Fire and Fury
by B1ue Ange1s
Summary: The Seven Shield Alliance had been at war for almost a millennium, but with the help of the Black Dogs mercenary group they were finally able to win. Only to be immediately betrayed and attacked by the same group. So now at war with the very people that won them the first what were they to do? Simple find people who are bigger, meaner, and a hell of a lot stronger.
1. Visions

I do not own Dark Souls or Kuroinu: Kedakaki Seijo wa Hakudaku ni Somaru

 **Well this is happening, eh I got to playing DS3 before the remaster came out then I started to play that and then it kinda spiraled out of control and now here we are.**

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Dark Character Speech"**

' _ **Dark Character Thoughts'**_

 **Prologue: Visions**

Soft green eyes opened slowly in pain as the owner coughed into the ground that they lay upon.

They then slowly raise their face off the ground and get the dust out their mouth. And with more effort then they'd like to admit began to pick themselves off the ground first with their hands before putting wobbly and unbalanced feet underneath them.

It was only when they rose to full height that the full figure of the person was revealed in what light remained in the sky.

The person had pale skin like that of fine ivory, bright blonde hair that ran all the way down to her ankles, vibrant green eyes and long pointed ears. As for her attire she wore a very loose fitting robe and cloth that wrapped up and around her back and crossed at the neck and worked its way down the front of her body before meeting again under her chest and quickly splitting off just her above stomach and once again coming together at her hips before hanging somewhat loosely around her legs. Over all of this was a long brown cloth that began at her stomach where the cloth separated and dangled in front of her just on top of the white cloth weighted by a large golden pendant. And as for the others things she wore she had a crown of what seemed to be two olive branches atop her head, a small golden crown that sat upon her ears and wrapped around her head and met at the center of her forehead, and brown cloth wrappings around her calves, which ended at the ankle and became leather sandals on her feet.

This was Celestine Lucross, high queen and to many of the people the most beautiful woman in her country of Eostia.

But now she wasn't sure as to where she was.

She looks around to the field that she seemed to have woken up in and wondered just where she was. The field was lifeless with the only things littering it for miles were thousands of weapons ranging from dagger, to spears, arrows, everything in between, and some weapons that looked too massive and heavy for any single person to wield.

All in all it was quite unsettling to look out at all of them as she herself tended to be a pacifist by nature and to look out among thousands of discarded weapons, she knew that somewhere there had to be thousands of corpses of those who used them.

And that thought brought her to near sorrow as she was forced to think on the war that been raging on in her kingdom for almost an entire millennium. Perhaps this was a reminder of how many have died in her war with the Dark Queen? Perhaps it was a premonition of how many more had to die before it would end?

Either way it did not matter to her, death was always one of the ugliest and most heartbreaking things she had been forced to look upon in her long, long life as a queen. So she knew that she would never be used to it no matter how many times she sees it.

So that begged the question as to why she was being shown this now?

She then looks up into the sky and her jaw fell at what she was being shown in the sky above.

The sun seemed to be in an eternal eclipse.

She had seen plenty of eclipses in her life, but this one was very different. Never has one looked or felt like this one. It was as if the warmth of the sun had disappeared and all that was left was quiet and still darkness.

However she didn't have long to think on the phenomenon as large heavy footsteps could be heard behind her. And against her better judgment she turned to face whatever it was that crept behind her.

It was a knight, but it was the most unusual knight she had ever seen.

The knight was tall, over double the height of a normal man and his armor was badly worn and burned almost to the point of being completely black.

His legs were covered in plate armor and looked as if they were tree trunks when she compared them to her own. His waist held a large assortment and daggers and throwing knives, and appeared to even be on fire at one spot. His chest piece looked as if it were a set of protruding ribs with a burning cape bellowing in the wind blowing past the two. Her eyes then continued to wander upward and saw that only his left shoulder was covered by a heavy pauldron, but the right shoulder seemed to still be well protected with a smaller and much more burnt one. Their arms were covered in charred leather and ended in knuckled plate gauntlets with each knuckle being red hot.

And then she looked at both their face and to the weapon they carried in their right hand.

The helm was charred and burnt like the rest of his armor and for the most part to her was a typical if slightly creepy helm. Until she got to the fiery crown that seemed to be resting at the top with all of the points of the helm glowing as if they had just come fresh out of the forge.

Also the knight didn't seem to have eyes of any kind, as the slot where one would normally be able to see them was a total void of black.

And then there was the weapon, a large vicious and twisted greatsword twice the size of any she had ever seen. It like the crown since it was glowing with heat so much so that she could feel herself begin to sweat from it.

She swallowed a lump in her throat out of fear at the towering burning knight before her. Silence crept over the area as the knight had yet to make a sound other then their raged and strained breath. The burning knight then slowly leaned forward bringing itself down to her height and seemed to look her directly in the eye.

She could hear deep and haggard breathing from behind the helm and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as the knight seemed to be glaring her down without needing any eyes to do so.

" **You are not ash."** It said finally said to her in what sounded like a thousand different voices put into one body.

But for the life of her she had not even the slightest idea of what it meant.

The knight rose from his spot in front of her and placed a hand upon her head and began to grip increasingly tight.

She began to panic as the knight started lifting her off the ground with what seemed like relative ease and once again called out to her again in its multiple voices.

" **You must see what ashes lay before you. If you are to survive the coming dark."**

She didn't have time to wonder what this knight meant before the squeezing on her head became unbearable as she screamed in pain as each and every digit it used to grip her head began to heat and glow with red hot fury.

She was then assaulted with visions of figures she had no clue who they were or what they were supposed to mean, but they like the knight were violent and very foreboding.

With the first she found herself surrounded by fire. It was all around her, assaulting her from everywhere at once while it burned everything to the ground around her.

But among the fire she heard a soft laughter like that of a wise old man. Then almost for no reason the fire seemed to split apart for a moment revealing to her a dark figure that held a dark red flame in each hand and when they raised one hand out in front of them it showed a small grin upon their face.

"Fear the fire, young one. Or else you burn yourself." They say in a soft and tired voice.

They then gesture the other hand outward and the entire landscape becomes brightened with fire revealing that they had been standing in the city of Ken the capital of her country and her own personal home.

And now all of it was gone. Burnt to nothing more than ashes.

And like that the first vision ended.

Celestine didn't have time to think on that though as she found herself going from pure fire to pure darkness as now she couldn't see her own hand in front of her face. And all she felt was cold.

But then all the sudden the voice of a woman rang in her ear.

"And just what is one like yourself doing here?"

She turns trying to find the voice in the darkness and begins to feel the sensation of fear creeping up her spine.

"There is no need to fear the dark." She hears again in her ear with the same feminine voice.

She then feels herself being wrapped in hug from the front and she couldn't help but notice the soft silk like clothes that the other woman was wearing and the soft feeling of long hair mixing with her own.

"The abyss is always welcoming for more unfortunate souls." They say after a few moments of quiet comfort.

And then like that it was all gone.

The dark.

The woman.

The vision.

But from the looks of the third vision Celestine wishes she still couldn't see as now she found herself in a field of corpses and mutilated bodies all of them skewed with arrows while others were missing limbs or had deep cuts on both armor and flesh alike.

She hardly wanted to look at the carnage that lay before her, but the cold feeling of steel being rested on her shoulder forced her eyes wide open and stopped her where she stood.

She looked to her right where the weapon rested and she saw a long single edged curved greatsword soaked in blood.

She then heard a voice and unlike the first two, which were most likely an old man and a woman, this one was most definitely a younger man. His voice seemed somewhat muffled so he might have been wearing a mask or a helm she didn't know which it was, but she couldn't help but notice that the man's voice was smooth and calm. As if this wasn't the first time he has killed so many. So she tried her best to go completely still and not give him a reason to remove her head.

"You are not the one whom I seek." He says simply to her.

She opens her mouth to respond but he removed the blade before she could fully think of something to say and then simply walked away.

"I will not seek you for you are not among the spurned." He says to her cryptically.

She turns to get a look at the man, but the moment she did so the only thing she saw was the tip of a bolt soaring through the air and close to burying itself in her eye.

And then there was nothing.

Celestine at this point was somewhat used to the abrupt ends to these visions and simply prepared herself for the next.

She then blinked and suddenly found herself outside a grand cathedral surrounded by candles to the sides of the entrance and all along the large stonewalls.

Looking forward she could tell that the doors were shut tightly and yet something compelled her to step forward, to try and force them open. Something deep within her told her to take a look and see what lay behind the great wooden doors.

But shortly after it was also something within her that told her to take a great step back.

And was she ever glad to have listened to her gut. As a massive object came crashing down onto the ground where she once stood.

She shields her eyes from the dirt and rocks that it kicked up from the impact and when the dust had finally calmed she looked out to see what she thought was a fallen church pillar. A pillar that so happened to have a long handle leading next to the entrance to the church wear its wielder stood surrounded in black.

Oh so it was a weapon. That didn't maker her feel any safer knowing there was a person capable of strength that surpassed anything she'd ever heard of.

"Heed my words wench. If you've any sense you'll turn back from this place. Else they'll have to find a nice little coffin for you to huddle up inside." A voice called out from the shadows.

The voice was a man's like the last one but this one was much rougher, much deeper, and much more intimidating. But yet Celestine found herself strangely at peace with it's rough and intimidating nature as the owner had yet to pursue her any further. He simply stayed there like a sentinel of some kind guarding the church.

She then sees the pillar begin to shift and was then lifted up with what looked like incredible ease. And for a moment she caught a glimpse of the gauntlet that held it and saw that it was black in color much like the shadows that surrounded the rest of his figure.

"Are you daft? I told you to leave." The voice called again this time slightly irritated.

Celestine quickly shook her head, "Forgive me, but I do not know where to go from here. I'm very lost." She says simply and with a refine tone befitting her position as a queen.

A rough and low laugh was let out, "Like it matters to me. Go wherever you wish, as long as it isn't this way."

Well she was getting nowhere at the moment. "But I must go this way." She says in retort.

She then sees the figure move to directly in front of her but for some odd reason the light of the candles wouldn't show she her anything other than his weapon and his hands. As if the rest of him was this dark mystery.

Though it was only now that she noticed the size difference between the two of them.

The man was a titian in stature, not as tall as the first knight she saw in the field of weapons, but still he was now the second largest man she's ever met. Though she couldn't make out details she was easily able to see large broad shoulders, massive amounts of muscle in both the chest and arms, and that he stood two heads taller than her.

"Move or be moved." The dark figure said plainly and with a tone of no patience to the high queen.

She wanted to back down but for some reason this figure seemed to draw at something in her soul, something that she hadn't felt in centuries, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was.

Though in her thinking process she didn't notice his free hand reaching up to join his right and grip his weapon with two hands.

"Fine then, damned fool. Have it your way." He then brings his colossal weapon down on top of her and crushes her into the dirt.

And that was the froth vision.

Now she found herself in front a massive vault lit only with torches lining the walls to her left and right.

She was confused at first, as there seemed to be nothing here other than the vault in front of her and unlike the others she was completely alone. She was sure of it this time, there was no fire, no darkness, no bodies, and no church.

As she was about to try and pull upon her magic she heard a light tap.

Tap

Tap

Tap

The tapping was coming from the vault in front of her and she was ever so curious, but after the other visions she learned to keep her distance at this point.

But she then noticed that the tapping grew louder and louder until become a loud bang on the vault door.

Bang

Bang  
Bang

With the last one she felt the ground beneath her shake a bit from the force behind the last hit on the vault.

She then hears the loudest one yet and saw in somewhat horror as the vault door now had a dent in the center and that it was slowly getting large with each hit.

The hits grew louder and louder as the dent got bigger and bigger until Celestine was certain that what ever the thing was on the inside of that vault was certain to punch through.

Then all was quiet the hits stopped and the vault was no longer shaking on its hinges from some force behind it.

That is until an even larger dent formed to the right of the center, in a single blow.

What followed were three more strikes to the inside of the vault and with them three more gigantic dents in the solid steel.

BANG  
BANG  
BANG

This finally seemed to have been too much for the large vault as the last one revealed the edge of a weapon, a weapon with a sharp curved tip, solid black in color, and what had to be a monster at the other end.

And before she could think on this anymore the vault was launched off its hinges and sending her flying into the back wall with a loud thud.

Looking up painfully she sees a figure just as large and imposing as the one in front of the church with a towering shield raised above her form.

"Free, I am finally free." The figure says in a masculine voice that seemed to be a medium between the man with the curved sword surrounded by corpses and the other in front of the church.

The shield was then moved and she clearly saw him a man in a silhouette of large bulky black armor holding a sword that looked more like a slab of metal with a sharpened and curved tip.

"And so the Slayer steps out into the world once more." He says before simply walking past her to smash open the great stonewall behind her with practiced ease using his greatsword.

And Celestine could do nothing as the entire room began to crumble around her.

And she hardly had enough time to even scream.

And like that she woke up in her own room, panting and covered in sweat with a face full of fear at the visions she had just had.

Calming herself down from her sudden awakening Celestine looks out her window to see that it was still morning in the capital city of Ken. And upon seeing that the city was still very much in tact she sighed a breath of relief seeing that it was all only a nightmare.

She then hears a knock at her door, "Come in."

The door opens to reveal two servants and the Knight Commander of all her forces, Claudia Levantine, who was already in her knight's armor. Ready for whatever the day may bring.

Claudia like Celestine was a beautiful woman with flawless pale skin and a very voluptuous figure. But unlike her queen she had light brown hair rather blonde, which she kept tied up into a bun and held it in place with a small golden headpiece with small silver wing like features in front of the ears.

As for her armor it had large two sectioned silver colored pauldrons on each of her shoulders, which sat on top of her other plates that curved up to, protect the sides of her neck and shoulders. Both of her arms were covered with silver and gold colored gauntlets that ended at the beginnings of her knuckles allowing for more flexibility when using her sword.

Her chest plate was a large and broad silver colored and gold lined double-layered plated material that extended from just below her waist to her collarbones and proudly adorned the symbol of the Seven Shield Alliance.

Below her torso she wore and armored waistcloth that held her sword and sheath in place when she wasn't training or teaching the other knights in her order. She then had on rather think leggings to distance her skin from the silver and golden colored greaves that went from her upper thigh all the way down to the ends of her feet at a fine point.

"Are you alright my Lady? We heard you shout out just now." She says with concern adorning her face.

The high queen nods to her bodyguard and friend, "Yes I'm fine, just a nightmare is all. Thank you for your concern Claudia." She says trying to make her friend drop the topic.

"Are you sure my Lady? You seem to be sweating a great deal, should we perhaps draw you a bath?" One of the servants says while keeping their heads bowed in respect to their queen.

The armored woman in the room nods at the suggestion, "Perhaps it would be for the best, she does have to make appearances today. She should look her best for her people, after all the war is most likely to end today."

The blonde queen sighs knowing why Claudia wanted the other two out of the room. So she casually waves her hand to dismiss the servants and they quickly bow again before they rush out of the room to prepare a bath for the queen.

And once it was only the queen and her guard in the room Claudia looked her friend in the eyes, "Must have been some nightmare if you're sweating this bad. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it my Lady?"

Celestine said nothing and merely looked out the window and stared at the city, "Claudia, do you think the war will really end today?" She asks suddenly with a completely serious expression.

The Knight Commander nods, "Vault and his band of mercenaries have been instrumental in the past few years, if anyone can take Olga's keep it would be them. Besides her monsters have been dealt a major blow at the border from their last offense. So it will take time before her forces are fully able to recover their numbers. I believe the timing couldn't have been better for The Black Dogs to strike. They know the area better than most of our other forces, and they took only their best warriors for this assault. Vault himself is even going to personally insure that Olga is captured and this war ended, once and for all."

She then laughed a bit and shook her head, "And you said it yourself at the last gathering that Olga's magic has been weakening over the past few decades. She's loosing her strength and with it her grip on the monsters of the North. Without them she doesn't have an army. And without her they will have no true leader and will be nothing but warring tribes and will hopefully kill themselves off."

Celestine still had a serious look on her though, "But tell me what happens if they fail? What happens if Vault and his men are lead into a trap and killed?"

Claudia's expression also grew much more serious, "Then we would be dealt a crippling blow. Without the leadership of Vault, Kin, or Hicks their mercenary band would crumble and would lack any really skilled fighters leaving only rookies. And if they can't function properly then our own men would be forced to take the place of the mercenaries. Our forces would be even more thinly spread than they already are. Our cities would be less protected leaving them open for attack and the Dark Queen could possibly push forward almost all the way to Ken before we have enough men to stop her. Essentially this entire war rides on the success of Vault and his men; and they should be attacking sometime today or later tonight. So I suppose that either way this war is sure to end by sunrise tomorrow."

The queen said nothing as her friend laid out scenarios in front of her and she clenched her hands.

"Why the sudden interest? Does this have anything to do with your nightmares?" Claudia stopped in her tracks as another thought entered her head, "Or were they visions?"

Celestine turned and looked at her second in command, "I think they were, but they weren't visions of Vault or Olga claiming victory. They were visions of people who are complete enigmas to me."

Claudia raises a brow at that, "Do you remember the visions?" Celestine nods, "Then please tell me of them, perhaps a or more militarist perspective could explain something in them?"

The elf queen puts a hand on her chin as she recalls the vivid things she was shown in her sleep. "Well at first I was in an open field surrounded by nothing but weapons and a single towering knight who seemed to be on fire in certain places."

Claudia raised a brow but the look on her face told Celestine that she had no idea what it was supposed to mean.

"Next was Ken, burning to the ground. And among the fire was an old man one whom I've never seen or heard of, he told me to 'Fear the fire or else I will burn.' That was his warning to me, but he seemed to be a skilled mage of some sort. Though I've never heard of a fire mage being able to burn a whole city to the ground with only pure fire magic before." She says at the end drawing on her memories to recall of any notable mages in the past years cable of anything close to that.

Claudia already did not like the sound of the vision, first was a field of weapons, a giant flaming knight, and now all of Ken burning to the ground. She was very much hoping that the others ended better than the last.

So with a nod Celestine continued on.

"Next I was in a place of pure darkness, no light, no heat, lifeless like a void. But yet there was a woman. She seemed welcoming to me, like the dark was a place of peace rather than what we've come to believe. But that was all I was shown for that vision."

Claudia once again had no idea what it was supposed to mean, and she had an idea that every other one was going to be like this. But she still wanted to hear them and see if there was anywhere she might actually be useful for this. Magic always was the queen and Kaguya's place of expertise.

"Then it was a field of bodies, all of them killed with either arrows or with a curved greatsword. And before I really had a chance to look closer I saw and felt the very blade that had killed them on my own shoulder. A man then spoke to me claiming that he was seeking the spurned. Do you think he meant Olga?"

Claudia shook her head, "There are many who have been spurned in this world, your highness. But I do not think I can narrow it down enough to seek a single person to try and find the man. But perhaps time will give us another clue as to what this vision means?"

She then nods for the queen to go on.

"The next two were similar in a way. In one a large black knight figure guarded a church on a hill and in the other a black knight figure broke out of a vault or crypt. But in both of them I was killed for getting in their ways." She says recalling the fact that both a wall and a column had crushed her to death.

Claudia actually looked visibly angry at the last part. To kill her queen in a vision never ever was a good sign, no matter how one looked at it. And as the guard to the queen Claudia was understandably pissed at what the visions implied.

"So in one there was fire, another dark, the next war, and in the final two you died either way. Are we maybe looking at this from the wrong way?" She said hopeful that the visions were not literal if they came true.

The queen shook her head, "I don't know, these are the first visions I've had in some time. Only time will tell us how they unravel."

The knight didn't like it but her queen was right, only time would tell.

For now they still had a war to win. Or at least they could pray that it ends in their favor.

So Claudia followed her queen out the door and only had one thought going through her mind as they made their way down the stone halls of the keep.

One of her old master's main of warfare and battle, _'Pray for the best circumstances, but always prepare for the worst.'_

 **And Done!**

 **Well this story's going to be a bit out there but hey most of them usually are so….anyway.**

 **The idea for this came from browsing Bloodborne stories when I came a across a gem called** **The Night Unfurls** **by StaffSergeant (really recommend going and giving that a read)**

 **And I thought "Hey knights and wizards and shit….why not Dark Souls."**

 **And here we are now.**

 **But anyway if y'all would please Read and Review since it always helps out and lets me know how I'm doing.**

 **Stay Cool**


	2. Escape

I do not own Dark Souls or Kuroinu: Kedakaki Seijo wa Hakudaku ni Somaru

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Dark Character Speech"**

' _ **Dark Character Thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 1: Escape**

They had finally done it they had won; the Black Dogs had taken the Black Keep. And with it they had ended the almost millennium long war.

It had been a long, hard, and arduous journey to get to this point for the largest group of mercenaries in Eostia. But it was worth it.

All the years of fighting, being the first and last ones on the front lines against hoards and hoards of almost never ending monsters. Not to mention when they didn't have Vault, Kin, or Hicks they had to deal with boarder line incompetent commanders from the Alliance, always with a chip on their shoulder trying to prove that they were worth the armor they wore.

But when the High Queen had called them about taking this castle, they jumped at the chance. To both end the war and further their own plan for the country.

They didn't care that it took a little over a week of riding and walking to get here. That they had to go through some of the worst terrain in all of Eostia, ranging from poisonous swamps, a cursed forest, and decrepit badlands abandoned by everyone smart enough to know when the land is hostile and worthless.

They didn't care that they had to fight off the occasional party of orcs or goblins, they had gotten used to killing green skins a long time ago.

When they had reached the castle they had used an old escape tunnel to make their way into the lower levels.

And to no one's surprise they were met with every monster the Dark Queen could throw at them orcs, goblins, ogres, werewolves, a vampire or two, even a damned troll. But with enough grit and manpower the Dogs pushed on and on until they had reached the thrown room of Olga herself.

Only to find it empty.

Though really it didn't matter to them if she hid from the inevitable, they would find her soon enough. After all she only had so much castle to hide in. And they could still progress with their plans regardless.

So they searched and searched top to bottom and all the while the mage of their group, Kin, had struck a bargain with the monsters of the keep.

A bargain that resulted in a coup against the now absent queen.

As for the bargain itself, it was a rather simple arrangement, but it worked well enough and helped get everyone involved what they wanted in this ultimate goal of the Black Dogs.

The monsters were to serve Vault and the other Black Dogs just like they had served Olga and in return they would be free to pillage, rape, and kill how they saw fit. Whenever they wanted, wherever they wanted, and the Dogs would make sure that no one stood in their way.

They were all too happy to agree since almost all of them thought with their lower head rather than the one on their shoulders.

The fact that Vault offered Olga herself as a bonus for the ones who found her was more than enough to kick the arrangement into high gear.

And thus a new army was born, one that would be spearheaded and lead by Vault and his Dogs with all the support an army of monsters could give.

It was here though that both Kin and Vault were informed by the monsters of the castle that there was apparently a second Dark Elf somewhere in the keep. Someone who was very close to Olga, someone they could use as leverage to lure her out of hiding and into a trap to disarm her of what magical power she had left.

So they quickly sealed the castle, no one in and no one out until they were found.

That had been sometime ago though and nothing had been found of the two. Many had thought they were already gone, but both the tracker and mage of the group could confirm that the two were still somewhere in the castle.

So they still had their chance to capture them. They knew if she were to escape that she could possibly warn the Alliance of this little pack that had been made. And if they lost the element of surprise, then this campaign would change from a blitzkrieg to a full fledge war of attrition once again.

And while Vault had plenty resources to pull from, more than a few hidden allies around the kingdom, and a fair share of devious tricks up his sleeve he would rather keep the original plan of a quick and easy war rather than one with any possibility of defeat.

It never hurt to have every advantage possible.

"Damn it where'd the bitch go?!" Vault shouts in anger as he sat in the throne of the former Dark Queen now runaway.

Vault was a tall, physically impressive and proud man with a tanned skin tone, scars all along his body including one across his left brow, dark red eyes, and light brown almost grayish hair. His attire consisted of a black plate armor that covered his entire torso and his left shoulder with dual layered armor with the left also adorning an additional red piece with the symbol of the Black Dogs proudly on display.

Next there was a small gap between the shoulder and forearm on the left arm leaving space for greater movement when fighting. Then at the elbow it became a black layered and studded gauntlets with spike tipped knuckles. While the right arm only had a metal bracelet sitting atop a grey leather glove, giving him much more control when handling his greatsword.

Of course it was difficult to see most of the armor aside from the shoulder since most of it was hidden beneath an overlaying set of brown and maroon colored cloth. Brown for the base layer ending at the shoulders and leading down into the legs, and maroon resting over the shoulders and on the collar bones before draping behind his back to become an almost ankle length cloak.

Going past his torso Vault wore atop his brown colored pants a layered set of black metal plate armor starting at the tops of his thighs and ending at the ends of his feet at a point.

And finally beside Vault to his right sat his own personal greatsword. The weapon was tall, almost as tall as the man himself and like his armor solid black in color at the center with it graying out towards the edges. Finally the handle of the weapon and the part closest to its owner was plain for the most only being wrapped in white cloth and bandages with a large rectangular end.

"I said I want them found damn it! To come all the way to this gods forsaken land, I don't expect to have our vision challenged before it can even begin." He says angrily as no one had even come close to finding them, yet.

Hearing his commander's question the mage of the group Kin pushed his glasses up a bit on his nose and sigh at his impatient tone.

"We have the monsters and our own men searching the entire keep, and we are tearing at some of the walls looking for hidden passageways as well. Rest assured they will be found." He says calmly to his enraged commander.

"Tell them whoever finds the two bitches gets an entire night with them for all the shit they've put us through! Couldn't even lose properly, they just have to run!" He says annoyed as Kin goes back to looking over an old tome for the castle and its layout.

Now Kin as opposed to Vault wasn't the most impressive of specimens when it came to physical prowess or form, but what he lacked in muscle he more than made up for in intelligence, cunning, and magical aptitude.

As for the man's appearance he was much paler than Vault being much more fair skinned while his hair a much lighter shade of brown and neatly combed to one side and his eyes were dark green rather than red.

His attire was a green and blue shirt with sleeves that ran down to the middle of his arms and had to be tied at the waist to keep it from being too loose on him. His pants with a simple brown in colored and ran down to the bottoms of his ankles. His feet had rather simple shoes and his wrists were both covered by black cloth bands as most members of the Black Dogs were. Finally he completed his look with a long purple hood and cloak over his person held together at the base of the neck with a pendent that had the symbol of the mercenary group, and glasses with wide round lenses.

They then both look up to see a patrol coming into the throne room and the lead man in charge bows his head to his commander, "Sir we think we found something below the castle." He says simply to the two before Vault stares him down.

"I told you to find someone not something. So this had better be good." He says irritated to the patrol.

"One of the patrols found a group of our men with their throats cut so we had a group of goblins pick up the trail there. It lead us to the lower part of the castle where we had one of the ogres knock out part of a wall in the cellar. From there the trail was picked up again and we followed it, but it lead to a large metal door. We think Olga and the other elf have locked themselves in there. Even the monsters couldn't tell us what it was, so we don't know if she's laying a trap for us in there. The men seem to think this is Olga's personal safe room or escape passage, but we cannot get it open since they placed a magic seal over the damned thing." The man says wanting to please Vault and hoping for the coveted reward of a night with the Dark Queen.

"Magic you say? Kin go with them see what this is all about. I'll be down there to meet you shortly." Vault says with a small smile on his face at the thought of finally nabbing the illusive queen.

The mage nods and grabs a spell tome from his pocket and nods to the man, "Take me to this seal."

 **Inside the Sealed Room**

Chloe could hear them on the other side of the door, all those disgusting humans and those traitorous monsters. It made her skin crawl knowing what they wanted to do with her and her Lady. She then looked to the bloody dagger she held with a look of hatred and a smirk as she recalled just how she got them.

The last man who tried her had been too close with his weapon still on his belt, so she put it too much better use. After killing him his "friends" came to investigate and she made short work of them as well.

And she would do the same thing to anyone who dared to lay a hand on her queen.

As for how they got to this point Chloe quickly rushed to the throne room after dealing with some of the Dogs and met her queen who quickly told the younger elf to follow her. So with her being the loyal subject she was Chloe followed the queen without a second thought.

Though in the back of her mind she was confused as to why the queen had asked her follow her rather than staying to fight off the attackers. But she was still loyal, even if the order was strange to her.

So they made their way through the corridors of the castle and girl couldn't help but notice the that they were using tunnels that she's never seen or even heard of before. And as she looked around more observantly she noticed that her queen was tense the entire way, and only seemed to be growing more and more uneasy the closer they got to wherever it was that they were going.

And when they had finally made their way out of one secret passage they just as quickly entered another one in the cellar that had lead them to a room she never knew existed. And before she could ask her Lady about where they were she saw her queen tap her scepter on the center of the vault door and watched as an array of seals began to form on the metal in a bright and radiant red.

As the door opened for them she quickly followed her Lady through still confused as to what the place actually was. But before she could open her mouth she watched in just as much confusion as she resealed the door behind them.

And after a few agonizing minuets the two of them heard the tell tale sound of Dogs and monsters clawing at the door they had just come through. And now they were completely cornered.

"My Lady what are we going to do? Is there another escape tunnel in here?" Chloe asks to her queen somewhere between worry and panic as the sounds grew louder and louder, signaling that more and more enemies were piling up on the other side of the door.

Olga though said nothing and motioned for her to follow. Begrudgingly the younger elf does as she is ordered and follows her queen once again deeper into this mystery room.

As they walked the light had faded and now the two were relying on Olga's scepter to light the way for them with a simple illumination spell. And in the dark Chloe could see just how tense her master had become as they finally reached what they were looking for.

Another sealed door.

"My Lady forgive me for speaking out of turn, but what is this place and why are we here? We should be looking to escape and bring the castle down on top of these miserable cretins. So what are we doing here?" She says before looking behind them knowing it was only a matter of time before they had nowhere left to run.

The queen looked straight into the solid steel and sighed before tapping her scepter on this one much like the first and they both watched as runes spread and glowed an eerie red before the vault began to open.

They then hear the sounds of footsteps and see the glow of torches coming from behind them and Chloe draws her dagger and prepares to fight when Olga looks at her.

"Chloe in this room is the key to our survival. Quickly run inside and you will find chains hanging from the walls. Cut as many as you can, he will be awake shortly. And I assure you he will deal with these miserable curs." She says with a small tone of sinister nature in her voice.

Nodding reluctantly the younger elf goes in the pure black of the vault and spots the multitude of chains hanging from both the walls and ceiling. So obeying her master's orders the girl made her way over to them and quickly got to work cutting as many as she could with her dagger. And while she wished she could've done more the dagger could only take so much and after cutting through the sixth chain broke in half in her hand.

She then looks deeper into the dark and hears the sound of more chains being moved about by something deep within the room.

But before she could think on what lay in the dark she was grabbed from behind and wrestled to the ground.

"We got the little cunt!" She hears a disgusting voice sound off from behind her as she was dragged back to the entrance.

Once back in the light the girl was pushed down to her knees across from her queen who now pointed her scepter towards the men and like her had adorned a look of murderous intent. But she then looked to Chloe and then to the darkness behind them and smirked a devious grin.

Though the grin didn't stay on her face for long as the man in charge of this whole situation came strolling casually into view with an overly arrogant look on his face.

 **Earlier**

Vault had made his way down to the hidden structure that he'd heard the men talking about and saw his two right hand men already down there.

"Kin, Hicks what the hell am I looking at?" He asks curious if the two elves were luring them into a trap.

Hicks the tracker of the group smiled and gestured one of his arms to the metal structure before them, "Well Vault it's….a vault."

Hicks like Kin was nowhere near as physically impressive as Vault in terms of stature and size, but like the other leader of the Dogs he made up for it with his own unique skills as both a tracker and a more speed and agility based fighter.

As for his appearance the man was thin and but had excellent tone in his muscles allowing for him to be quick on his feet. He had fair skin, slicked back light brown hair, and devious brown eyes.

As for his attire he wore a completely open and no sleeved green vest with the symbol for the Dogs on the back. Somewhat loose fitting dark green pants held up by a brown leather belt and brown mid calf length boots with light amounts of armor on the ankle and balls of the feet.

To top it off he used twin shortswords and had a small pouch on his left arm containing poison that he often coated his blades in.

The leader of the mercenaries though just looked at him with a deadpan expression, "I'm not dealing with your bullshit now smartass. I can see that it's a fucking vault, tell me what the hell might be inside."

Kin sighed as his hand began to glow and connect to the spell keeping it closed. "The runes are telling of a prison rather than a vault."

The other two looked to him and each raised a brow, "Now what the hell would someone like the Dark Queen lock up all the way down here?" Hicks asks to himself out loud.

But sadly none of them could answer that for the tracker.

So after Kin was able to get the first seal open Vault and all his men made their way down the dark corridor with monsters flanking them on both sides.

And when they reached the end they finally saw her, Olga Discordia.

She was slightly taller than most had thought, but that didn't detract of her almost otherworldly beauty. The queen had flawless and rich dark chocolate colored skin and hypnotizing golden colored eyes. Her hair was a silky pitch black that reached all the way down to the backs of her knees and covered almost the entire right side of her face.

She wore a regal, but also well fitting purple dress that began at the tops of her chest and ran down the length of her body and arms, but rather than ending like a dress should the fabric then tightens at her waist and turns into a long set of leggings.

She finished off her noble appearance with black high-heeled boots, a large silver crown, and four golden earrings in each of her long pointed ears.

And while she had a weapon in the form of a long solid black scepter with an enchanted ruby in the center, she could barley conjure enough strength to undo and reseal her own magic much less use it to defend herself and Chloe.

But what most were focusing on was the queen's impressive and youthful figure with large, full, and yet still perky breasts, slim waist, and like her front a rather generous backside to match.

Vault saw another form in the dark and sent in three of his men to grab the other elf.

"So we finally get to meet the great queen of the North. You don't look like much." Vault says cockily as he made his way over to the once great queen.

"Where'd all that power of yours go? Surely you're more than just a pretty face and a pair of tits, or am I making a mountain out of a molehill?" He says making the others behind him laugh.

He then turns his attention to the recently opened second vault and watched as two of his men dragged another dark elf into the light for all to see.

She was lighter skinned than Olga, but still a rich and healthy shade of caramel with light blonde hair that reached all the way down to the middle of her back and ruby red eyes. She wore a top that only covered her upper back, shoulders, and down to her collarbones, but there was only a small gap in-between the end of the fabric and the beginning of metal. Her armor began at her chest and covers the majority of her sides and her stomach but like the shirt she wore ended abruptly at the waist and left a gap exposing some skin. Though once again like with the shirt before it any skin was quickly covered by armored leggings that stretched all the way down and were held up by red leather straps connecting them to her chest plate.

And like her dear queen the other woman was quite something to look at when the men looked her body up and down.

She was put down on her knees across the dark queen as Vault made his over to the new face without a care in the world. They were his now whether they knew it yet or not.

He leans down and grabs a hold of Chloe by her chin and forces her to look up him, "So you're the bitch that killed my men? You're even less intimidating than your owner." He says in a tone to the younger elf, making said elf grit her teeth in anger.

"Hey where hell did Gull go?" Vault looks to the two men that were holding her down and paused as he noticed that there were in fact only two when he sent in three.

They then hear the sound of heavy footsteps emerging from the dark.

And then a corpse was thrown out for all to see.

Or really the corpse was thrown so hard that it impacted and left a dent in the stonewall at the entrance to the first vault.

The footsteps then drew closer as tall black figure made there way out of the dark, and when the light struck them most people there most people were not prepared as to what it was.

It was a knight, a knight taller and more muscular than even Vault or some of the orcs in the now somewhat cramp tunnel.

He was covered head to toe in bulky black armor with the legs having solid and grooved plate up to the knee where the metal doubled for extra protection of the joint. Past that it was much harder to tell as the knight had a ragged and torn waistcloth that covered the entirety of his thighs. Up past the cloth they could see double plated armor covering his hips to the sides, which were then connected by metal studs to his torso and bottom of the chest piece. As for the actual chest it looked to be three full layers of pure blackened and most likely hardened steel. It had a few decorations to though as after the triple layer the center of the chest protruded forward slightly almost to a point allowing for knight to have a bit more breathing room around the chest area, the side effect though was that it showed just how muscle the knight seemed to be hiding underneath the armor. Then again at the collarbone did the armor protrude almost to a square shape.

Then onto the knights arms, they looked to be completely encased in layers of plate from the shoulders all the way down to the elbow where the armor itself bulked out a bit and continued to the forearms and ended at the knuckles with a single barely reaching plate stretching over them, giving the knight a lethal punch if need be.

And then they came to the head of the knight, for the most part the helm looked like a metal box almost if it weren't for the slight rounding across the face and the four cut eyeholes.

And with a closer look they could see a rather pissed off set of eyes glaring back at them from beneath the helm.

"And just who the fuck are you?" Hicks asks drawing his twin blades.

The knight doesn't a say a word to him and just starts walking towards them dragging something behind him.

And not really wanting to get too close of a look at whatever he held Vault nodded his head and three men and three orcs charged him with bloodthirsty grins and weapons drawn.

The knight seeing the six challengers running at him just cracked his neck. He then swung his left arm forward bring forth a large rectangular tower shield that was black in color with a strange symbol across the face of it.

The shield served its purpose though as the impact of it meeting the first orc's weapon caused him to stagger from the unexpected strength behind the shield. Then with a small charge the knight bashed the orc back and sent him flying into two of the men, knocking them all to the ground.

They quickly try to recover, but were met with a nasty surprise when they tried to get up as the knight's right hand came around and cleaved the three unfortunate souls in two with a weapon that shattered stone when it struck the floor past the third body.

When the dust settled the full form of the weapon was shown to the other members of the Black Dogs and remaining monsters.

The weapon was a greatsword even larger than the one that Vault used and also pure black in color, but unlike Vault's where his was smooth and a finished blade this one looked as if it was a raw hunk of iron left to heat and then used after it cooled without any further tempering. The edges were all jagged and uneven leaving some parts to act more like hooks than a cutting edge. The sheer amount of jagged edges meant that the cut would be very messy with some parts slicing open flesh while others hooked into any muscle or organ that it could find and drag anything out with it.

The end of the weapon was a curious part to some though, as instead of ending in the traditional fine point this weapon continued to be weird as the end was curved towards the sides and were completely smooth and sharpened to perfection. Finally the handle of the weapon was finely crafted like the other end as the jagged and almost deranged nature of the blade ended abruptly and became a handle easily large enough for a man with four hands to hold.

Kin and Hicks widened their eyes at the sight of the weapon as they saw the ripped open and mutilated bodies of the men and orc before him.

The others while more hesitant charged again and the man now on the aggressive side shield bashes the man and a loud crunch could be heard as both the man's nose and jaw were broken upon impact.

He drops to the floor screaming in pain only to be silenced with the bottom of the shield slamming into his ribs.

The knight then looks to the second one and brings his wicked sword around once more lets the end perfectly slice one of the orc's legs off. Though the other one didn't escape as the sword was then abruptly whipped back and brought down like a guillotine on his shoulder splitting the pig-like monster down the center and spilling everything onto the cold stone floor.

The knight then looks down at the without a leg as it crawled away from him and stabs his weapon into pure stone and hoists the orc up by its barley sew together shirt.

And for a moment they just stared for a moment, monster glaring at man. But the knight quickly ended the orc's snarl and glare with a solid punch to its snout easily breaking it.

The orc didn't have time to whine in pain though as the knight's hand was then placed on its neck cutting off any circulation, and he began to pull upwards.

The monster screamed in agony for a short time until all the sudden the cry was cutoff by a bloody gurgle, and before the eyes of everyone in the hall a single man with a single hand tore an orc's head clean off and dropped it to the ground without so much as a second glance.

Dropping the last body to join its head the knight looks to all the monsters left in the hall and rolls his shoulders, "So who's next then?"

Kin steps forward trying to reason with the knight, "We have no quarrel with you knight. All we're here to do is capture Olga and end this war."

The knight looks to the still free Olga as she glared at the men who still held Chloe by the throat, to Chloe who was stuck between shock and anger, and finally to the monsters that piled into the hall behind the men.

"Don't sugar coat it Kin, I'm sure the man is reasonable." Vault said as he walked up to the knight and looked at him with a casual smirk on his face.

"So why'd the bitch lock you up down here?" He asks with that confident and dark look shadowing his face and he glances at the gore-covered greatsword now resting on the knight's shoulder.

The knight looked at him and shrugged, "We had a disagreement. And she didn't see things my way, but she didn't want to kill me." He answered simply.

So Vault then pressed on, "Did you fight for her?"

The knight then looked to Olga and for a brief moment her cold façade broke looking into his helm.

"I did. I fought for her without a second thought."

Vault then goes on, "And so your loyal service was rewarded with what? Life in chains underneath a castle you fought for. Doesn't sound like much of a reward to me. Spilling blood for her, willing to die for her, and in the end she threw you away when you disagreed with her? Just what were you disagreeing about?"

The knight said nothing.

So Vault shrugged his shoulders, "Fine don't tell if you don't want. Fine by me. But let me ask you this, how does the idea of revenge sound to you."

The knight looked to Vault and he knew that he now had his attention. "You see we're in the same situation as you were. Forced to fight this war for someone else and for what, a little money and fame? I say we're owed more than just riches and fame. I'd say the bitches who put us up to this owe us _personally_." He says dragging out the word in a way that made Olga's skin crawl.

"I say we take everything we can. Why should we bust our asses for ungrateful bitches who are better off serving us as obedient whores? Why should we fight and only have a little gold to show for it at the end of the day? I say we turn this whole country into our personal paradise." He breathes in deeply as if enjoying the scent of his own breath in the air.

"I say we turn this miserable land into an empire. An empire where every man can live like a king, an empire where all those stupid princess knights are the prize whores for anyone worthy enough to claim them. We will create the Sex Empire!" He finishes with a shout getting a roar of cheers from everyone behind him in the hall.

He then gestures to the Olga and Chloe, "So I'll ask again do you want revenge on the one who put you in here? Why not start off your new allegiance with a gift. "

The knight looked to Olga who seemed to look a lot more nervous after Vault posed the question of revenge after his speech.

"Do I want revenge on her? Absolutely…" Vault smiles to the knight as he turns around.

But a large hand on his shoulder stopped him and he felt his sixth sense kicking in, "….but am I going to stoop to your level to do it? And if you think I will side with mindless monsters to get it? Then allow me to properly give you an answer to your proposal."

Vault then tried to duck but the knight landed a monstrous punch to the man's side sending him flying backwards with what was most definitely broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, and knocking over two of his own men when they tried to catch him.

Vault spit blood and looked to the knight with fury in his eyes, "You just made the worst mistake of your miserable life. Skin this fucker alive and use him as a rug to fuck those two on!" He says before the men charge at the knight once again.

"Big talk coming from a man who looks like one of Farron's rejects." He says calmly in the face of an army.

The knight brings his sword around in a wide swing and cleaves an orc in two before turning and blocking an axe from another and smashing the shield onto its foot and pushing back with ease.

The orc could barley think on what was happening as the pig-man was thrown onto a crowd of other monsters who all stumbled to catch their comrade from both the weight and strength behind the throw.

And in these compact corridors grouping together was almost always a death sentence.

At least if the knight standing over them had anything to say about it. He then puts his shield on his back and began two handing his sword get a much stronger swing. Putting that extra strength to good use he brings it down with colossal force chopping one in half on the first stroke, before pushing against the floor and deeper into the small pit of pigs, ripping and tearing apart anything it touched. He then lifted it with ease and brought it back down onto another orc like a mighty guillotine.

And it quickly became a pattern for the downed orcs.

The sword goes down gifting anyone it hit with a swift end as they were most likely cut entirely in half or decapitated.

Then came the drag where not just the edges but also the flat side of the sword could hook into their skin and tear them apart like butchers shredding meat.

And finally the rise that filled any surviving orc with fear as they played a small game of roulette, who survives the next swing?

And after reducing the orcs into mushy red mulch he turned his attention to the two men that were trying to drag Chloe off and much to their surprise he was on them with a single and surprisingly fast leap.

He lands on one, crushing the man beneath the weight of his armor, turning his organs into paste and his bones into splinters. The second one tried to hold the girl hostage, but the knight was quick to grab one of the Dog's arms with one hand and jerk him away from the elf before burying his head into the stone floor.

He looks to Chloe and motions his head to Olga who was beginning to be surrounded by a few of the monsters.

The girl nods and picks up two discarded daggers before rushing to her Lady. Upon getting close she dug one of her newly acquired weapons deep into the skull of one orc and stood protectively in front of Olga.

"Get back." The younger elf says with as much confidence as she could muster with one dagger skill clutched in her hand.

The other orcs snarled but when they weren't paying attention to the real threat in the room they were quickly disposed of from behind due to a long neck level swipe of a gore covered greatsword.

The two elves then stood before the knight and for he first time since he had emerged Chloe felt the true difference in size between them.

But she didn't have long to dwell on it as another shout from behind him made her instincts kick in as she expertly threw her remaining dagger into a man's throat and watched with satisfaction as he suffocated on his own blood.

The knight looked to the man and then to her and nodded in respect, a nice kill.

They then all turned to Vault who was being helped to his feet by Hicks, "I'll give you the younger elf as your personal plaything if someone kills this motherfucker!" He shouts motivating more of his men to charge the knight.

The three looked out among the multitude of monsters that now filled the hall and knew that it was only a matter of time.

Chloe was fully prepared to die fighting if need be. But when she sees the knight walking backward until he was right next to Olga, her curiosity was peaked as the queen watched his every move.

"You built this place atop the ravine correct?" He asks her seriously and in tone that Chloe did not like.

The older elf nods to him, "Yes, yes I did." She said already somewhat knowing what he was to do next.

The knight twists his back and grips his greatsword a bit tighter, "Good."

He then thrusts the end of the blade into the floor of the vault and watched in satisfaction as part fell away to reveal a large drop into the river that the castle drew water from.

Vault seeing what was going on quickly began to move back as the knight did another wind up and slammed his weapon into floor once more causing more to break away and the support to shake under the destruction.

Vault and the other Dogs along with the monsters quickly made their way back to the more stable parts of the vault and the man could do nothing but snarl at the armored nuisance that allowed his dark-skinned prizes to slip through his fingers.

So with a hateful glare the two mighty sword users got a good look at each other one last time before the knight slammed his sword into the ground for the final time and sent an entire section of the vault descending into the river below.

Vault looks to their quickly disappearing forms and clenches his fists in rage. Not only had that knight spit in his face by denying his offer, he had injured him, and took what he was determined to make his.

"Give out the word, if anyone finds the elves I'll pay them their weight in gold and give them a whole night with one of them. And if they bring me that bastard's head I'll pay you _his_ weight in gold and let them fuck both at the same time." He says wanting to get any and every member of his company motivated to find the party of three.

He just added a new target to his list of conquests.

 **With Said Party**

Chloe knew something bad was going to happen.

From the moment that knight, she just knew it in her gut that something bad was going to happen.

And now here she was falling to her death.

Better than what awaited them with Vault though.

So with her ready to accept her fate the young elf closed her eyes as she waits for the end. But before that could happen she sees a black figure in the corner of her vision, and already knowing who it was the girl looks over to glare at the knight, as she thought he was only there to assure that she died by his hands. But to her surprise instead of death's cold hands she felt a rather solid and somewhat warm armored chest as the knight cradled her close to him as the two fell to the bottom.

She then braces for impact and with a thunderous boom the knight lands on his back first into the water with Chloe somehow, for the most part, unharmed.

They then surface with both of them letting out gasps of relief as they were fighting the current of the river. But after enough struggle the two were able make it the shallows and walk onto the shore.

She looks at him in shock as the thought of the knight actually saving her came to her mind. Doesn't mean she trusted him, but saving her twice left him standing better than most.

But her surprise turned to worry when she saw to trace of her queen. She quickly became frantic as she searched the rocky bottom and in the river. But there was no sight of her.

The was about to cry when a low laugh rang against her ears, so turning to the only other person down there with her she looks to the knight who was shacking some of the water out of his helm.

"She'll be fine, a little fall like this wouldn't be enough to kill Olga. She's much too stubborn." He says before standing up and checking to see if the straps holding his shield and greatsword were still in place and that his weapons wouldn't fall of him while walking.

Chloe goes to retort and berate him about respect for the queen when she catches a glimpse of purple above them.

She looks up to get a better look and the knight follows her line of sight as they both look up to see Olga floating down towards them with a levitation spell.

Or at least she was when they first looked. As soon after the spell quickly faded and the once infamous Olga Discordia, master of the dark arts….fell straight onto her ass, hard enough for something to brake.

She let out a loud shout of pain when she landed and both Chloe and the knight could hear a loud crack in the air upon her impact, sounded like she broke something on her landing.

Chloe being the faithful servant that she was rushed to her Lady's aid and helped her stand only to see that she had landed on a rock and had broken her leg.

The knight hearing Chloe's calls of distress over Olga slowly stood up and made there way over to the two elves.

"Olga." He says simply to them.

The two turn towards him as he shakes his head and sighs, "Normally this would be an opportunity to say I told you so, but now it seems as if more important things are afoot. We need to move quickly before the monsters catch up, and then we need to find you a healer."

Chloe was still defensive and got in his way as he walked closer to her queen. He sighed seeing that the girl was only going to make things more difficult.

"You said you wanted revenge against her. What makes you think that I will let you take another step let alone touch her?" She asks with a snappy tone.

The knight sighs again, "You have no weapon to defend her or yourself, and if I wanted I could tear you in half. So do us both a favor and let me get her to a healer, she's no use to anyone as she is now."

Olga having had enough of simply listening looked to Chloe, "Just let him through Chloe, if Tsorig wanted to kill me then he would have when he was first released."

She looks back in horror at what the queen had just said and felt herself torn between orders and reason, but in her indecisiveness the knight pushed past her and scooped up Olga bridal style and just started walking.

"You always were the romantic." She jokes to the knight.

"Don't make me drop you." He says to her in a voice that was both dry and annoyed.

Chloe catches quickly walks beside them and studies the two as Olga found herself smiling rather than the usual monotone expression, or her recent tension.

"My Lady who is he?" Chloe finally asks the question that been on her mind from the beginning.

"My name is Tsorig, last Black Iron Knight of Berenike." He says with pride in his voice.

"I always thought Knight Slayer was the more impressive of your titles." Olga chips from in his grip as the knight shakes his head.

"That is a title that others gave me, not a title I earned. Or even appreciated for that matter." He says much lower at the last part, getting a raised brow from the younger elf.

They then walked in total silence all the way to the mouth of the ravine, and when they looked out upon the miles and miles of land that the Black Dogs now controlled. They knew that their journey was not going to be easy.

"So then, Tsorig, what is your plan exactly?" Chloe asks the giant in armor as he looked on in thought.

"First we need to get some distance between us and the castle. After that we find a healer, because I'm not carrying you all the way to Ken." He says making both of them look to the knight in shock.

"Don't look so surprised, Ken is the best place for you to go right now. It's far away from Vault and his Dogs and Celestine always has been the forgiving type of person. So perhaps there is a chance that if you offer her some information on the movements of the monsters and how they fight then perhaps she will be lenient towards you?" He says to before marching onward.

At least until Chloe ran in front of him and stopped his progress, "You are asking me to deliver my queen to our enemies. While you yourself are our enemy, I have no reason to trust you nor listen as you will only lead us to ruin!"

"Yes and that's the plan to lead her to her enemies and ruin her. And there isn't a damned thing you can do to stop me. Make no mistake girl, I'm not your friend. I saved you and her because I want to see you two properly dealt with, she has a lot to answer for." He then leans forward and even under the armor Chloe could see his muscles tighten as he was ready to spring at the drop of a pin.

"But don't you think for a second that I am you ally or friend. I have history with Olga, history that demands I see her at least reach Ken. I don't on the other hand give a damn about you, nor do I need you for this. So if you get in my way again, I will kill you. Understand?" He says in a deadly tone to the younger elf.

"Then why did you save us at all!?" She shouts in pure anger.

"Someone once told me that even the broken deserve dignity. And Olga is far from broken, therefore I'm not going to leave either of you in the hands of monsters who solely live to strip the dignity of any woman they can get there hands on. Even if it's only to see you tried at Ken." And with his piece said Tsorig just keeps walking.

And as he walked past her Chloe could do nothing but try to keep up.

She knew these were going to be troubling times ahead, especially with someone who held the name of Knight Slayer.

But for now he was all they had, and that was saying more than she cared to admit.

 **And Done!**

 **So that ran a bit longer than I thought it would, but hey more is more.**

 **Well that's another in the books and yeah I know some might say why Tsorig and not the OG Tarkus. totally honest I just like Fume better than the standard greatsword and I can mold Tsorig as I see fit for the plot.**

 **Please Read and Review as always since it always helps.**

 **Stay Cool**


	3. Rest and Recover

I do not own Dark Souls or Kuroinu: Kedakaki Seijo wa Hakudaku ni Somaru

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Dark Character Speech"**

' _ **Dark Character Thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 2: Rest and Recover**

It has been four days since the betrayal of the Black Dogs and in that time word of it had spread to almost the entire northern half of Eostia and was quickly traveling further south like wildfire.

Of course word spread much faster when everyone knew it was true.

Especially when the Dogs were seen sacking small villages along the northern mountains, with monsters happily obeying their commands.

Understandably everyone and anyone not inside the safety of the larger cities began to panic at the thought of their protectors turning against them.

But among the panic in one town two individuals were seen as the definition of calm throughout the whole ordeal, one Dark Elf and one armored giant of a man.

As for how they'd gotten to this point, they've been walking for the past few days and while Tsorig could hunt for the three of them, he'd much rather just have a hot meal and some ale rather than spring water and whatever meat he happened to find that day.

Also Olga still needed a healer or at least a doctor to look at her broken leg. As it was still a major concern to Chloe and a constant annoyance to the knight, seeing as he had carried her the entire way so far.

But the record for suitable towns and resting places was zero for three as of now. So he was hoping that they would find a town soon, he would greatly appreciate a good rest.

When they then reached their first town they saw to no one's surprise that everyone who once lived there had already left. Chloe briefly thought that monsters could've been responsible but both Olga and Tsorig pointed out that there were no bodies or any signs of a fight.

They tried to rest there for a night but Tsorig's gut told them that the town was still too close to the Dark Castle and therefore too close to relax just yet.

So they continued to walk all through the night but the second town was no different from the first with everyone gone and most of the supplies taken with them. And while the three of them were happy to find a free meal among the remnants, both Olga and Chloe would admit that stale bread was not their first choice for a meal.

And then they came to town number three which surprisingly still held a few people, but those who stayed behind were all too sick to leave. Tsorig had them move on quickly not wanting to catch something, and to avoid seeing those left behind in such a state.

Much better to die in peace and know your loved ones had a chance.

Now here they stood in town number four with a population panicking farmers and shaking merchants.

Better than the others, but not a town Tsorig would go looking for help in if he had a choice, but they were growing desperate.

"With everyone panicking finding a decent doctor is going to be a challenge. If they even have one." Tsorig says as he and Chloe were seen walking through the town with everyone either ready to spring with a drop of a pin or cower in fear at the sight of him.

"Humans always have been quick to fear or hostility, why should now be any different?" Chloe says with a cold tone glaring at a shopkeeper.

The knight just shook his head, "Can you really blame them? They've a good reason to be scared, not only do they have to deal with monsters, but ravenous Dogs as well. They're not fighters and all they can do is hope that the larger cities sends reinforcements, which most likely won't happen." Tsorig replies with a steady voice knowing that in this kind of war small towns like this one rarely lasted long.

"And why should we care what happens to them? These farmers, for all we know they fed those Dogs before they sacked Lady Olga's keep."

Tsorig looks to Chloe and sighs, "Farming produces food and food feeds soldiers. If one side is able to hold the food supply then the enemy will starve. From there they will be at a massive advantage in every battle, their soldiers are well fed and ready while the enemy is standing already dead on their feet. Makes winning all the easier. And if you have the support of the farmers then that's the first step into the plan."

She glares at him as he continues, "So even if you don't care about the people who work the land, protect them like you do and maybe you won't find yourself starving to death. Something to think about before you insult people you've never met before."

Chloe rolls her eyes; "I wasn't talking about farmers when I said that, I know just how important even a single farmer can be. I was talking about humans. Why should I care about them? All they do is cause misery wherever they go, in all my life I have yet to meet a single human whose very presence doesn't make me want to vomit at the sight or smell of them. Now my Lady and I have been kicked out of own home, and we are constantly under the threat of rape, torture, or death if we were ever caught. And now I find myself in a town where they might have support for their cause. So answer me again Tsorig why should I care if this town burns to the ground?"

The knight says nothing and shakes his head, "Yet."

She raises a brow at the word. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You've _yet_ to meet a human who doesn't make you sick to your stomach, give it time. Not all humans are sorely evil, some can even be great if given the chance." He says calmly to her.

She opens her mouth to retort but he cuts her off by raising his hand, "However I know, better than most, that some humans can worse than any monster. Vault is just the most recent addition to that list."

With his piece said the towering knight walks off leaving the girl to glare, but ultimately sigh as she followed behind him again.

They walked into what looked like the town center and looked around. They then see a small pudgy man hunched over his desk quickly scribbling words onto a piece of paper.

Tsorig was the first to walk up to him and clear his throat to get his attention but the man doesn't even look up at him.

"I'm sorry but I can't help you, right now. Please wait outside like everyone else and we'll try to get to you as soon as we can. You must understand that everyone is anxious to leave as well, but we must maintain order so that we are all able to escape." He says quickly and what sounds like a practiced tone.

"Well have you sent away the doctor yet? We just got here and we have one wounded." Tsorig says calmly to the man who finally looked up to see who he had been talking to.

His eyes quickly widened and he dropped his pen when he saw both the size of the man and the size of his weapons.

"I-I'm sorry g-g-good sir, but you'll have to wait to see the d-doctor, he's busy at the moment tending to another p-patient." He says now terrified of the man in front of him.

"Well then at least tell us where he is." Chloe says speaking up with a bit of attitude getting his attention on her.

He looks to her and couldn't help but slightly gawk at the dark skinned beauty that stood before him, but remembering that the other person there was an armored giant he quickly shook his head and responded to her.  
"Well the doctor is further towards the outside of the town. If you're adamant about seeing him you can go to the market square and ask for a man named Lorenzo. Anyone there should be able to take you to him. A warning though his current patient is in quite bad condition." He says quickly before looking down and continuing his writing.

The two travelers seemingly happy with what they got left and made there way to the market where this Lorenzo was said to be.

They asked the closet person and they were pointed to one of the shops. They walked in to the shop and immediately the smell made Chloe cover her nose and almost gag.

"I'll be outside." She said before quickly leaving the way she came. All the while turning a rather sickly shade of green.

Tsorig while no fan of the smell assaulting his nose didn't mind it too much and continued walking.

He made his way up the stairs and found the source of the smell coming from one of the rooms at the end of the hall. He walked over and when he first pushed the door open the smell doubled in its potency like a punch to the gut Tsorig began to cough at the renewed attack on his nose.

Hearing a cough from behind him a figure rose from his position next to the bed and turned to face the knight.

And for a moment the doctor froze in place, as if he had seen a ghost. But as quickly as it came it left him and he glared towards the newcomer.

"Who are you and what are you doing? Can't you see I'm busy at the moment?" A withered and agitated voice rang out from behind what sounded like either cloth or a mask.

The knight quickly composed himself and looked ahead to see whom he was talking to.

The man was short, most likely even shorter than Chloe by a good few inches, which was only increased by the fact that his back looked arched and craned. He couldn't see any skin or hair for that matter as his entire person was covered in solid black robes with a wide brimmed black hat and pale grey mask with a long beak and empty looking eye holes with what looked like spare lens attached to small metal arms.

' _This is the doctor?'_ Tsorig thought to himself curious as to the medicine man's strange attire.

"Well out with it I don't have all day!" He hears the man shout agitated at him once again.

Tsorig now back on the task at hand looked to the other man that had yet to move on the bed and his eyes widened at his condition.

His skin was pale almost ghostly white, his hair had completely fallen off leaving only pealing skin in its place, and his eyes were almost completely black and void of life. The rest though he was unable to see as the blanket was covering everything from the neck down.

"Ah wondering what happened to this one huh?" The doctor says knowing where the knight's eyes had wandered.

He then turns back to the man on the bad and slightly lifts the blanket around his feet and shows Tsorig jus why the man was in his care.

His left leg was missing from the mid shin down, and it looked to be horrible infected.

"Stupid youngling was exploring a bit to the north looking for gods know what and he fell down a hill into one of the infamous swaps. And to make a long and complicated story shorter when he was down there he claims that something bit him on the ankle. Three days later after he makes it back to town we find out that he not only got bit of something, but that the swamp had left him a nice little case of rotfiend. And I'm not sure if you know this or not, but once the Fiend gets you its either to kiss your life or a piece of your body goodbye. Luckily for him the infection set on his leg, unluckily for him was the fact that the boy couldn't decide fast enough and now it has spread to all over. So now all that's left to do is wait for him to pass." The doctor said with a low tone.

Tsorig then points to the leg, "Then why is his leg like that?"

The doctor looks at the place where the infection began, "Well that is the end result of rotfiend, this little monster is of the flesh eating kind. And it works at an incredible pace."

"So how long does he have? Not to be rude, but I have someone with a broken leg and maybe a broken tailbone. And while I know some broken bones are nowhere near this level, we would like to get back on the road as soon as possible."

The doctor looked to the knight and sighed, "If I were to be completely honest then he's already dead and there's nothing I can do to help him, other than making his passing as peaceful as possible. But realistically speaking he should remain alive for only fifteen hours max. And after that I must clean up here and cleanse maybe burn the room, wouldn't want rotfiend to spread. That'd be worse then any monster this land could throw at us."

Tsorig looked down at the slightly twitching pale corpse of a man in the bed, "That sounds pretty damn cruel to just let him rot to death. Why not just make it quick?"

The doctor shook his head, "Not my choice to make, and besides I took an oath a long, long time ago that I would not harm a patient. No matter the state they are in. So I'm sorry to say this but I will not leave this man's side until the gods have called him up to them. I'm sure your friend can wait for some time." He says before shooing the knight away.

Tsorig bites his tongue but does what the doctor asks and leaves for now.

Chloe was waiting for him outside and turned to the sound of heavy footsteps as he made his way out of the house, "Well where is the doctor?" She asks impatiently.

Tsorig shook his head, "He's determined to stay in there until the man passes, or maybe a miracle will occur. Either way though it looks as if we're to be staying in this town for the night, I don't want to be caught in the dark."

The young elf couldn't help but clench her hands in anger at the thoughts of the doctor simply telling her queen to wait, and that she would have to spend an entire day surrounded by these miserable ingrates.

Seeing her anger Tsorig laughed a bit under his helm, "You're more than welcome to go talk to the man himself, but be warned if you thought the smell was bad down here it get so much worse the closer you get."

That took the wind out of her sails a bit as she turned a slight green at remembering the horrible smell, "I suppose one night is…tolerable. As long as Lady Olga gets the help she needs, then I suppose patience is something of a must for now."

They then both make their way back to the largest local inn and made their way to the third floor where they found Olga exactly where they left her. In a bed nursing a glass a wine with a small scowl on her face.

"Ah Chloe, Tsorig when can I expect to see the healer?" She asks in a smooth tone of voice to the two of them and taking a sip from her glass.

Chloe goes to answer but Tsorig was the first to speak, "He'll see you tonight or tomorrow morning, after his current patience dies and he cleans up."

This clearly wasn't the answer Olga wanted to hear as a large frown made its way onto her face and she, in a very unlady like fashion, slammed the rest of her drink down her throat.

"Well isn't that just perfect?" She says with sarcasm dripping from her voice while laying her head back onto the pillow.

Tsorig let out a chuckle seeing the almost always-regal Olga drinking wine and laying on a commoner's bed.

Olga though just turned away from him knowing exactly why he was chuckling at her.

Chloe took the glass from her queen and became the ever present and attentive subordinate that she is, "Would you like me to get you more wine my Lady?"

Olga just waves her off, "Perhaps in a moment, for now I'd rather just lay here. But Tsorig if you would do tell me what your plan is again? Wasn't it, and correct me if I'm wrong, to walk with the two of us through untold miles of hostile terrain and turn me in to Celestine as a barraging chip. Then what, you fight for her? Or would you just disappear and wander around until you find that other knight you kept drabbling on about?"

Chloe looked between the two of them with tense breath as Olga laid the situation in front of them again, and even now the so-called 'plan' had her worried. Would the goddess reborn even take them in, or would she have them killed on sight for their parts in the previous war that went on for the past thousand years?

Tsorig though just shook his head, "Partly, if she takes you in so be it. I've no doubt you want to tear Vault's heart as much as her and Celestine currently has the only army that has any chance of stopping him. And if she is to kill you then so be it, you've got it coming. As for me I'll worry about that, doesn't really seem like much of your business anyway. You threw that away when you locked me away under your fucking castle."

Olga narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing and turned away. He knew that she had nothing to say to him. Probably for the best wouldn't want to go to sleep angry.

Tsorig knowing she wasn't going to be talking anymore walks out of the room and leaves the two elves to their own devices.

Chloe watches as the door shut behind him and doesn't utter a word until his heavy footsteps faded off as he walked further and further away from the room. She then looks to her queen and grabbed her glass.

She goes to stand but she sits back down and looks to her queen and clenches her fist at the burning question in her mind.

"Lady Olga if I may ask, who is Tsorig?" She asks the question that had been on her mind since the very beginning of their journey.

The former queen sighed knowing it was only a matter of time till her ward asked about him. "Tsorig is…well it's difficult for me to really put into words." She says trying to think of the best way to tell her what Tsorig has been to her throughout the years.

"He and I have a very long history together; I met him before I was even crowned queen of the North when my mother and father still sat on the throne. And like you I was both curious and a bit frightened at the strength that he possessed. But no matter how hard I fought against it, no matter how much I insisted that a simple foreign knight was not worth my time my curiosity continued to draw me closer to him as he found himself a regular in the royal keep. Even back then something always drew me close to the Knight Slayer, perhaps it was fate that he was found at our gates."

She smiled as happy memories surfaced in her mind memories that were made centuries ago.

"He was there when I was crowned queen, and he was there when my parents passed. He was almost like that of a loyal dog at first, by my side each and every day as both protector and friend. But later he became my most trusted and valued companion. " She says resisting the urge to let out a small laugh at memories of him and her in her youth. Before a fire was lit in her eyes as she trailed further into her memories.

"He was there when I declared war on Celestine for allowing humans to ravage my lands, and for allowing them to mistreat my people. And he was more than happy to swear himself again to me. He was there for every battle, every war room meeting, every victory, and every defeat. He was the corner stone of my army, always there, always ready to tear apart anything and anyone I considered my enemy. Be they monster or man." She says with a small sadistic gleam in her eyes remembering the all the heroes Tsorig had brought to their knees, and all the corpses he had sent back to Ken.

Chloe leans in a bit closer as she began to hear her queen reminisce about a past she'd never once heard of before. With her curiosity now peaked at hearing that the knight they'd been traveling with was this close to her queen at one point.

Olga sees the younger woman's curiosity and slightly nudges herself closer to her, "He was my general, the leader of the Black Brigade my most fearsome elfin warriors. And for a long time he was my closest friend." She trails off as her smile drained and her ears drooped slightly as sadder memories surfaced in her mind.

"But, I made mistakes, mistakes that cost a lot elves to lose their lives. It was a catastrophic fault on my part, and he had warned me about it from the very beginning. So I made a decision, without his knowing, one that I hoped would bring us back from the brink of defeat." She says with her tone growing increasing depressed in nature. Something Chloe easily picked up on.

"My lady you do not have to continue if you do not wish to." She says trying to comfort her queen.

Olga nodded and looked to the glass still in Chloe's hand, "Thank you Chloe. I think I could use a bit more wine now." She says trying to get a moment alone.

The younger woman quickly stood up and nodded to her left the room leaving Olga to sigh and lay on the mattress staring blankly up into the ceiling.

' _I suppose a few centuries was more than enough to be considered unforgivable. Why didn't I see it back then? Gods I was a fool. But for a time it worked, wasn't that enough? Of course not, look at me running from my own home into the arms of my rival and her allies. I might as well put my head on the block and save Chloe the trouble of being dragged down with me. I don't even know how many escaped besides the three of us; in the end I abandoned my own people. I truly am lost now. Very well then Tsorig, consider me and Celestine allies as of now, may we dine in the sight of Vault's corpse.'_ She thinks to herself and cringing at the thought of that high elf and her on friendly terms.

A few hours later Tsorig was seen sitting alone at a table downstairs in the inn not really wanting to be in the room with the two elves at the moment. But he knew that he couldn't really leave the building to properly clear his head, as he was the only one who knew what the doctor even remotely looked like.

So here he sat a table in the corner with his weapons leaning against the wall and his helm resting on the table, waiting for his order of beef, bread, and beer.

Tsorig without the helm was a relatively young man who looked to be in his mid twenties with a small and rough bread that encompassed most of his face in a layer of black facial hair. His skin was darker than most with it being a natural bronze in color despite almost always being incased in his armor. Atop his head was short and messy coal black hair while his eyes were a light grey in color much like pools of cooling metal.

So he sat there in silence and just began to look around at the people that had yet gotten the chance to leave, or those who were simply just too suborn. And for a moment he felt his old knightly vows being brought to the forefront of his mind.

' _No matter how hard you try Tsorig you cannot save everyone. I can't, the Order can't, hell not even the Old Gods of Lordran could do that.'_ He hears a familiar voice in his mind tell him.

And he sighs knowing that he was right, but even then he wanted to try. No point in staying behind then.

He almost didn't notice that both Chloe and his food were now in front of him.

Nodding to the bartender he looks to Chloe as she instead of her usual glare looked at him with an unsure expression.

A welcome change for sure, but one that left him wondering as to why she was staring at him in the first place.

"Something wrong?" He asks her before tacking a sip of his beer.

"Lady Olga spoke of you, she told me that you two have know each other for a long time. She also told me that you lead her army into battle." She spoke making him raise a brow at her.

"And?" He asks wondering just where she was going with this.

"So why are to so hell-bent of killing her then? If you wanted her dead then why don't you just save us the trouble and do it here and now!?" She asks angry at just being near him after learning he was once closer to the queen then she'd ever dreamed of being.

The knight sighed and looked to his helm on the table, "She obviously didn't tell you everything. But I suppose if she wishes to keep it that way then I must respect that. Now let me tell you where you're mistaken, I do not want to kill her I wish to see her answer for her crimes of hypocrisy."

Chloe looked at him strangely but allowed him to continue, "She and I do in fact go way back, so do not think that I take any joy in doing this. This is simply the right thing to do. And while she and I are no longer allies, or even friends for that matter, she still deserves to keep her dignity. Killing her in a town whose name I'll probably forget is anything other than dignifying."

Chloe actually back down a bit at hearing the tone of his voice, it wasn't cold but it still held firm in his plan.

"So then if you're done with me then you'd best be getting back to her." He says before going back to his meal on the table.

But before she could get completely out of hearing him he speaks up again. "And I never said I wanted to kill her."

She stops in her tracks and turns to him with a half glare, asking if she heard him right.

So Tsorig says it again. "I've said that I wanted revenge and I've said that I wanted her to be tried, I actually never said that I wanted her dead. But if that's what gets decided in Ken then so be it."

Chloe nods to him but rolls her eyes when she was sure he couldn't see her anymore.

And so a few more hours pass by with Tsorig now just watching the door for that hunched over doctor.

Thankfully the doctor didn't reach his maximum fifteen hours before he arrived, but even then it was still around ten almost eleven at night. Thus it was already far too late to travel and now they were forced to spend the night at the inn and hope that the Dogs and their monsters have yet to pick up their trail.

Still it'll be nice not having to carry Olga everywhere. Plus it was bonus on the fact that she was really starting to get used to being pampered, and it'll be nice to make her walk rather than getting a free ride.

Standing up and walking over to the doctor he looks at the now unmasked doctor and saw that like he initially thought the man was very old. He had almost white colored hair that was cut almost down to the scalp and his skin tone was even darker than Olga's with thick leather like wrinkles all across his face to the point where they looked to be pushing his eyes into a heavy squint.

They lock eyes and the doctor walks over to the man still in that towering suit of blackened iron, "Alright, let's get on with it then! There are many more people that need to be seen to. And I'm not as fast as I once was." He says casually before nudging his head towards the stares.

Tsorig nodding to him walks in front of him and leads him up to where both Olga and Chloe were both laying about.

When he opens the door both of them look to the old man with slight glares at the fact that a human was going to be treating the queen.

But Olga knowing that it would be best to treat her broken leg and tailbone held her tongue while Chloe discreetly held the handle of a knife, just in case.

"Well this is interesting, seems as if I'm to be a royal physician for this one. So then your majesty what seems to be problem with your current health?" He asks innocently to the queen as Chloe glares at the tone he spoke to her in.

The queen slightly shifts her position on the bed and points to her leg, "A broken leg and tailbone." She says simply to the old man not wanting to talk more than necessary to a human.

The doctor walks closer and sees Chloe tense out the corner of his eye and slows his walk even further, "Easy now, I just need to see the severity before I can craft something to help her."

Hearing the word craft come out of his mouth the knight raised a brow behind him, "You're going to just craft her something to cure broken bones? Don't tell me that you're an alchemist? Last one I ran into tried to poison me with toxic gas."

The doctor shook his head, "Well yes I am a practicing alchemist, almost a master for that matter. And no I will do nothing of the sort with any poison, like I already told you my good sir I don't harm anyone in my care. My oath as a doctor prevents me from doing so, and I take oaths very seriously. Otherwise my word and reputation and considered null and void."

He then takes a closer look at the broken appendage and softly felt around the area that looked to be slightly shifted out of place from the initial injury. He then goes to his pack and writes down a few things on a notepad with an old quill and ink. He then came back to Olga and twirled his finger in the air getting a confused look from the queen.

Sighing the doctor looks her in the eyes and seems to be composing himself for a moment, "I need you to roll over on your stomach for now. You said that your tailbone might be broken as well and this is the easiest way to see for me, so if you would roll over and I may examine the area. And just as a warning this is only as a doctor that I'm asking you to do this. Would want your ward to stab me for doing my job."

The queen at least had the decency to lightly blush as she looked to both Chloe and Tsorig in the room as well. Before begrudgingly rolling over and letting the doctor examine the area.

Though whether she meant it or not she was accidentally giving both Chloe and Tsorig a small glance at the queen's generous behind.

And for a few seconds Chloe fought down the urge to stab the grubby little man, while Tsorig for his part just enjoyed the little show.

"Alright then I've seen the extent of the damage done, I should be able to craft a few potions that will accelerate the healing process and make sure that everything is set back into place properly." He says before reaching into his satchel and taking out a small bundle of cloth filled with ingredients and tools he would need to craft Olga her medicine.

As he got to work Olga couldn't help but ask the obvious question. "So you know of me?"

The old doctor nods and sparks a small fire underneath one of the glasses, "Hard not to hear of the Dark Queen. You're rather infamous, or famous depending on who you ask in the North. Plus it's not everyday someone meets a dark elf, especially one that carries themselves like you do. Your attitude just screams of royalty. Wasn't really too hard to connect the dots on this one."

He then goes over to his mortar bowl and pestle and begins grinding down a mixture of things and slowly crushing them into a fine powder.

"You're not really too involved with current events are you?" Tsorig asks the doctor now leaning against the wall and just observing the man work.

"Oh I'm more than aware of the fact that the three of you are on the run from both the Black Dogs and their new horde of monsters. They've already sent word to every courier in the North posting bounties on all of you." He then points a finger to Tsorig, "Especially on you. I don't know what you did to piss Vault off, but he's angry enough to offer enough gold and woman to turn a farm hand into minor noble."

"Seems like we pissed him then." Tsorig says in a slightly better mood after hearing that.

Olga just laughs a bit, "What, him yelling wasn't enough to give you a clue?"

The old man laughs a bit at their rather casual attitude, "For people on the run you lot seem to be rather calm about this. Tell you what, there's an old path along the western side of the next valley just a half day's walk from here. It'll cut two days off your journey if you're headed towards the south."

Chloe looks at him distrusting, "And why would we believe you? You just said it yourself that Vault is offering a lot to see the three of us at his feet, so why should we trust your words?"

Tsorig actually nods at that, "Hate to admit it, but she is right. We can't trust you."

The alchemist nods to them while heating up one vial full of a dark green liquid now. "That seems fair enough, can't really trust too many people when you're on the run. I never said you had to follow the path, but I'm not lying when I say it will cut off a day or two from your journey to the south. It's a well known traders path that you won't find on any map, but if you want to double check then ask any of the merchants in the town square they'll say the same thing."

He then walks over to Olga and hands her three small vials full of a dark green and absolutely foul smelling liquid, "Drink one tonight to start the healing process and then the other two as soon as you wake up every other day starting after tomorrow. A warning though after drinking this you're going to be sore for a few hours, but that just means that the potion is working. Anyway then, I wish the three of you luck on your journey to what I'm assuming is either Ken or just out of Eostia entirely."

He then goes over to the door and just simply leaves.

"The man didn't even demand payment. What a strange doctor." Olga says not really caring at all if he didn't demand payment, less they had to worry about.

She then looks to the bottle and grimaces as she pulls out the cork on one before holding her breath and downing the contents. Her eyes widened at the taste, which she would describe as horrendous, but other than that she felt completely fine.

Sighing with relief she felt the area of her leg and the base of her spine begin to go numb as a warm sensation began to take affect. It was clear sign that it was working and this meant they would most likely be able to head out first thing in the morning.

"We're going to the mountain pass in the morning." Tsorig says calmly making Olga just nod as she was sinking deeper into the mattress due to the relaxing heat in traveling all over her back and legs. While Chloe opened her mouth to shout but quickly closed it and rethought her approach.

"Why? The man is a stranger, who could very well be leading us into a trap. And I for one would rather slit my own throat than be a toy for that despicable Dog." She says with venom at the thought of Vault.

Tsorig shrugs his shoulders at her words, "What have we to lose? We will reach Ken within the next week regardless and at worst a small detour will only add a day if the doctor was wrong. And at best we cut off two and get there sooner rather than later."

Chloe didn't want to admit it but he had a point. At worst the only thing they would gain or lose in this decision would be time.

"Fine then, we will travel this pass. For your sake this had better not be a trap." She says still trying to threaten the towering knight.

"Oh I think we'll be fine. Now then get some sleep, I'll sleep against the door just in case the Dogs come knocking." He then leans his full body weight against the wooden door and closes his eyes as he begins to drift off to sleep.

"And what will you do if they do knock?" Chloe asks one last question before covering herself in a blanket.

Tsorig doesn't even open his eyes to answer her. He just clenches his fist and allows Chloe to hear the raw strength underneath the Black Iron.

"Then I'll knock back."

 **The Next Morning**

When morning came the three quickly made their way out of the town and followed direction that they had been given by some of the merchants and sure enough they came to a small traders route.

The old doctor wasn't pulling the wool over their eyes after all.

Tsorig was still carrying Olga though, as the medicine had two side effects on the dark elf that the doctor didn't tell them about or just didn't know about.

One, she was very feeble to the point that she could barely walk on her own two feet. Resulting in Tsorig having to carry her once again bridal style. Something that the queen had been joking about the entire time she was in his arms.

Side effect number two was that she was the queen had become the conversational equivalent of a curious child always trying to talk Tsorig and Chloe's ears off. And while Chloe was more than happy to converse with her slightly inebriated queen, the knight carrying her found that he was comparing her state to that of being drunk.

They continued to travel the path for most of the day, but a distinct smell in the air caught Tsorig's attention.

Blood, it was old, but there was a lot of it.

Preparing for am ambush or some kind or dangerous wildlife around the corner Tsorig gives Olga to Chloe and draws his greatsword and Black Iron greatshield.

But what they found was not what they were expecting.

On the other side of the corner was a small massacre, a full raiding party of orcs. Or at least what was left of them at any rate.

Tsorig put his weapons back on his back as he looked around at the sheer amounts of carnage that were left on display.

Bodies were absolutely pulverized, smashed into pieces like the alchemist and his herbs back at the last town.

Tsorig began to look around and got a closer look at the multitude of dead orcs around the path and smashed into the side of the mountain.

Most looked as if something massive had hit them as most of the ones that weren't just completely crushed into a gory paste and bone powder had shattered shoulders, hips, ribs, arms, legs, vertebrae, and or skulls.

He crouched next to one that looked to have been decapitated and he looked to where the head used to be. The flesh around the neck and saw that it was more torn than cut meaning something, rather than cutting his head off, had either painstakingly torn its head off with their bare hands or hit the head with something large, heavy, and with enough speed to send its head either flying off or disintegrate it on the spot.

Neither outcome looked to be good for the traveling party of three though as now Tsorig was thinking of the sheer amount of things in Eostia that could do this.

But every time he thought he had an answer one little detail popped into his head. They were monsters, and monsters never killed their own.

That left one possible candidate, and depending on how they found it was a good or bad thing. But he wanted to double check so he looked for a tell tale sign of his culprit.

He walked forward a few yards and stopped when he saw a perfect circle clear of any bodies seemingly in the dead center of the entire group.

He then spotted the War Chief that had most likely lead the party, and he looked to have taken more damage then any other monster there.

Actually he looked as if a mountain had fallen on top of him.

No eyes in his head, most likely popped out from the pressure.

No teeth in his mouth, all of them knocked out upon impact.

Organs turned into paste from the strength behind the attack.

Bones grinded into dust, also a result from the strength.

And finally the fact that he was imbedded into the side of the mountain with what was once inside his head now staining the rocks a dark and rotten red.

He knew exactly what had done this. Or really who had done this.

He then turns to Chloe and Olga and sighs before taking the tipsy sleepy queen into his arms again.

"Well I know what did this, and we don't have to worry about it trying to hunt us down." He says calmly as they made their way past the all the remaining dead bodies and continued along the path.

"Oh~ Do tell Tsorig!" Olga says excitedly to him still under the effect of the medicine.

"The Last Knight of Carim, Eygon. The knight of faith and fury."

 **And Done**

 **Well I'm hopefully going to get the next chapter out really soon since it's going to be focused around Eygon this time who was my absolute favorite NPC in DS3.**

 **Please do Read and Review as it always helps and I just like the feedback.**

 **Stay Cool**


	4. The Knight and Mercenary

I do not own Dark Souls or Kuroinu: Kedakaki Seijo wa Hakudaku ni Somaru

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Dark Character Speech"**

' _ **Dark Character Thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 3: The Knight and Mercenary**

Rain.

He always hated the rain.

Didn't know why he hated it but it was something that just always stayed in the back of his mind every time he saw it or got caught in its path.

Though given the circumstances he was beginning to think that the rain held more meaning to someone else than it did to him.

So he just sat there leaning against the cold marble structures just outside of Firelink Shrine. Waiting for one man in particular. Just waiting for someone he knew would come, and he was both dreading and looking forward to it at the same time.

Above him was his shield covering him and his companion from the rain that had been falling for the past few hours. It was almost like a rhythmic song that has been keeping them company until now.

A melody of soft pings and pangs against the shield, gently comforting the two people below it.

He feels a shiver to his left and shifts slightly allowing the person next to him a bit more room huddle up closer to him and the limited source of heat that he could provide.

He looks to his left where she lay, still in pain, and a small part of him wants to reach out and be more comforting to the woman. But the larger majority of him knew that he had to be ready, soon he would need to fight. Leaving no time for comfort, if he won that would be later.

The woman by his side was beautiful, frail, and appeared to be very young, at most in her mid twenties with her pale colored skin maintaining its youthful appearance despite all that she's been through and bright almost platinum blonde hair.

She wore an entirely white set of hooded robes with gold trimming all across her body with additional layers of cloth at the shoulders which came down to her elbows, tops of her chest, and back.

But the two most striking features of the woman were her eyes and her state of being.

For one her eyes were milky white in color, a telling sign that she was completely blind.

Secondly she seemed to be shaking in pain, and if one looked closer they could see why as under her skin something was squirming just beneath the surface. She appeared to be in so much pain that all she could do was cling to her companion like a lifeline, and pray that the pain stopped soon.

This was Irina a priestess of Carim, and a girl who attempted to become a Firekeeper. A woman who had been manipulated and betrayed by one she thought she could trust.

As for her companion they were the polar opposite to the small, frail, and sickly blind maiden next to him.

He was tall, taller than most men by almost a full foot and he was packed with bulky and incredibly dense muscles underneath a set of gray, black, and menacing looking set of armor.

Said armor looked to be slightly worn, but still held an intimidating stature and presence to it even as the man inside of it was seen almost cradling a grown woman in pain, and casually holing his greatshield above them to cover themselves from the rain.

The leggings were solid black and covered the entire leg from the top to bottom with intricately carved metal detailing on the shin guards before moving up to the knees where the carvings changed from simple patterns to a face. The knees had small of pointed faces carved into them akin almost to an eagle in nature. Higher than that the thighs of the knight looked to be layers of upon layers of blackish reptilian scales, but in reality were also carvings into the metal.

His waist was adorned with a small number of chains hanging ideally at the sides and front each of them looked to be rusted and worn, but yet they still held firm for now. A long gray leather belt wrapped around his waist and held the chains in place along with a large pouch on the back of his right hip. Also around his waist were four long strips of black cloth that traveled down the front, back, and sides of his body. With the sidepieces reaching to his lower calf, the back reaching his Achilles, and with the front being the most damaged only reaching the tops of his kneecaps. As for armor two overlaying grey metal plates on each of his thighs covered the knight's waist.

Moving onto the arms of the armor they were bulky and black in color and unlike the legs the arms were much more simple in design, but also an effective design as well. They were simple solid black form fitting metal gauntlets that expanded at the elbow and stretched up all the way to the inside of his pauldrons with a light layer of leather underneath it to cushion any damage they might take in battle.

Next came his chest and shoulders, and unlike the gauntlets they were much more unique in appearance when compared to the arms. The chest was double layered with blackened metal and protruded from both the front and back of the armor with the front part looking like a set of ribs and collarbones while the back mimicked the appearance of a spine. However the front design only really lasted up until it got to the knight's stomach where it became a solid sheet of double plate.

Next came the shoulders, which were strangely disproportionate with the right one being smaller black in color and far more detailed in the grooves that ran along its surface in a straight and smooth pattern. While the left on the other side was larger, traveling further down his shoulder, and it was a dark gray rather than black. It also looked to be much more rugged in design with bumps forming a scaled pattern all the way down to middle of his arm, and a large section specifically designed to protect his neck.

Finally came the helm like other parts of the armor it held a more beast like appearance with its design and black in color. Rather than a smooth, shining, and traditional helm this knight's was elongated and hammered to form a snarling or smiling mouth depending on the angle one looked at it. It held a row of smooth stone like teeth in both the upper and lower jaw, along with a long out reaching tongue in the center that stretched out a bit further than the jaw itself. The eyes of the helm were grey and soulless in feeling as they held a stony type of gaze to them.

And finally atop the helm were a pair of ears and horns. The ears were pointed and were more to the sides of the head rather than the back and held a very elf like quality to them. The horns were curved in the center and stretched directly backwards before ending it in a rather sharp point.

This is Sir Eygon of Carim, the knight assigned to Irina and her loyal protector.

But as of now he was going to be her avenger.

Right after he put a certain person in the ground.

He hears the sound of footsteps coming from the direction of the shrine that the two of them had been staying at for some time and Eygon sighs knowing that it was time.

He, more than he'd care to admit, gently moves Irina off of his side and covers her with a blanket of cloth he'd bought from the handmaiden of the shrine sometime ago. He then rises to meet the man who he knew was coming to kill the both of them.

As he goes to stand he hears the faint voice of his charge.

"Don't go…" She says weakly now being assaulted by the rain, not at all comforted by the cloth he'd given her. It wasn't the water, as the blanket was coated to be water proof, it was the lack of support and heat that made her call out to him.

He looks to her with a look of pity in his eyes as he clenches his hand in rage.

"This won't take long. I promise." He says in a low and cold tone.

He reaches to his right and grabs hold of his weapon and still grips his shield in the left hand.

The shield that had been covering the two of them for hours now was a shield unique to Eygon for two reasons.

One was that unlike almost every other knight of Carim Eygon actually used a shield rather than a secondary curved sword or parrying dagger. Something that was seen as taboo in the eyes of the Carim, but Eygon never really was one to care about what other people thought.

The second reason as to why he used the shield was that it was the last memento the man's older sister. A sister who he looked up to and admired in his early years as a child, and one who pushed him to rise and become better than he has ever been.

As for the appearance of the shield it was massive when compared to his body. It was a greatshield in stature with it covering nearly his entire torso and a majority of his neck and legs at any given time. It was old and looked to be slightly rusted over with slight cracks in the center from all the abuse that it has taken over the many years he has used it. Yet despite the rust and damage to it, it still held its brownish gray color and almost all of the intricately carved patterns along the edge were still proudly on display. Including the center that was carved for Eygon specifically, as his shield held the still and peaceful face of a sister who has long since passed.

So in a way, Eygon supposed she was still with him in some way or another.

And then came the knight's weapon, the greathammer of the apostle Morne.

The hammer was larger than most men were tall with the weapon being about six and a half feet long and it weighed more than most boulders comprised of masterfully crafted, hardened, and well-tested titanite. The design was like that of a church column with it being larger and larger the closer it got to the head of the weapon. The head of the hammer was circular in design with four square protrusions sticking out evenly spaced around the sides with a small overlapping tops to them that stuck out a slight bit further. And like the armor and shield the protrusions had intricate and highly detailed carvings all over them looking like a pair of wings almost.

Below that the weapon began to slim slightly and holding the top of the hammer in place directly below the furthest reaching parts of the weapon above them were four highly detailed and ever staring gargoyles with open and snarling mouths, waiting to greet anyone unfortunate enough to piss off their wielder. Further down the hammer became hexagonal in shape as it became six smoothened sides below the gargoyles, and past that small curved pieces held that layer up.

After that the weapon continued to slim and maintain the hexagonal shape, until the handle became smooth all the way down to the end of he weapon with its bulb tip.

He walks forward and sees a figure walking over the hill with their weapons already in hand like him. Just looking at them made Eygon grip both his hammer and shield a bit tighter than usual, he was going to enjoy killing this one.

The figure that he was staring at turned out to be a knight, or at least he was one.

The figure wore black and gold colored armor that had been dented and damaged over the many decades that it has been in use to the knight. Along with a tattered and torn gray coat covering him from the rain and cold and blocking large portions of the metal from Eygon's sight.

Eygon takes in a deep breath and rests his hammer on top of his shoulder as he glares holes through both of their armor sets.

"I made myself _very_ clear. My allegiance remained only as long as you assured the girl's safety. This knight of Carim does not forgive betrayal." He says in his low tone of voice, but with much more weight in each of his words. Along with much more anger in them as well.

He then looks back to the shivering woman in the rain and returns his glare in full force, but with a bit of a sadder undertone to them, "Even a broken woman deserves her dignity."

The other knight just cracks his neck and grips his dual set of hammers. He held one in each hand as he swung them around for a few practice swings, just to get the weight right in his mind and muscles.

The hammers looked to be very smooth with perfectly round heads and beautifully detailed and each of them ending with a small spike at the end. **(Drang Hammers)**

"Don't get in my way Eygon, this needs to be done." A higher pitched but still masculine voice calls out from underneath both armor and hood.

Eygon slams his hammer into a nearby rock shattering it into gravel, "No."

The other knight begins to walk around him trying to circle his way around the much larger knight. "You really don't have any idea what is at stake now Eygon. I almost envy you, she is the last piece that needs to be disposed of. One of the last two humans on this miserable rock capable of manipulating the bonfires, and because of that I cannot allow her to live."

He then stops and points his hammer straight towards the Carim native. "You are blinded by your duty to her. I'm willing to let you live, all you have to do is simply walk away. I will give you a chance to live past the end of this undying age, to see what comes next in the world." He says trying to get by without a fight.

The larger knight rolls his neck prepares for any kind of dirty trick the bastard would throw at him.

"She's a lost cause, you said it yourself Eygon. She's got nothing to live for, she's broken, a lost cause. To let her go on is crueler than any death fate could bestow upon her. She's served her purpose! She's had her value given and striped away, all I needed was someone who could understand the tomes. And now that I know everything that those scriptures could teach there is nothing anyone needs from her!" He says getting more and more heated as he went on. But there was more to this madness, Eygon could tell that there was more he wanted to say.

But he didn't give this crazed bastard the chance, he'd heard more than enough.

The larger knight rushes the man with a sprinting speed much faster than the other knight was expecting as he threw himself to the side in a desperate roll to dodge the hammer that crushed the rocks where he once stood.

"Be quiet." Eygon says in a deadly voice as he stands and quickly swings his hammer in a horizontal pattern to try and catch the knight off guard. But the other knight was able to roll and again and this time he went of the offensive immediately afterwards.

Eygon brings his shield around to cover his side as he feels two impacts strike the side of his shield and while most would move back from the two hammers colliding with them, Eygon didn't move at all.

He held firm and pushed the bastard backwards onto the ground and moved to crush him with a single swing.

However the knight rolled backward as soon as he hit the ground allowing him to avoid Eygon's overhead swing. And with the attack already colliding with the ground the smaller knight rushes forward to smash one of his hammers into Eygon's side while he was recovering his weapon and stance.

He was rewarded with a brutal smack against the Carim knight's ribs making the knight bite down in pain.

Not wanting to be hit again though the knight swings his shield around and blocks the second one before bringing his own hammer again in a sweeping motion at waist level.

And this time he was rewarded with it clipping the other knight it the side slightly throwing him off balance enough to land a solid kick to the man's gut.

Stumbling backwards Eygon brings the hammer around once again and again barley clips the man. Or to be more accurate he crushes the end of his right foot.

Letting out a shout of pain the knight is again hit by the hammer, only this time it was full force.

Eygon smiles under his helm as the bastard was sent flying off onto a rock, most likely bleeding to death on the inside of his body. If not then he'd happily hit him again.

But any thoughts of him killing the fallen knight in two swings disappeared as he saw him taking a sip from a glowing orange flask, before standing up with no trouble at all.

"What, you didn't think it would be that easy did you?" He says cocky as he walked back to face Eygon.

So again Eygon readies both hammer and shield, this was going to be a long fight.

 **An Hour Later**

Yeah much longer than Eygon thought it would've been. But now it was over, with one left standing and the other dying in the dirt.

Eygon still stood tall and proud, but with more than a few bloodstains covering his torso and arms from smacking around the bastard knight in front of him.

Not that he himself escaped the fight unharmed either, but like the bastard he too had a flask.

Speaking of said knight the man was now struggling to breath at the moment lying in front of Eygon bleeding out onto the rocks and quickly dying.

Catching a greathammer with your ribs is never good for one's health.

Eygon then smugly walked up to the dying man and put his foot on the man's chest, pushing all of his broken ribs deeper into his organs. The pain he was experiencing was justified though, all Eygon needed to do was look over at the girl in the rain.

"Remember, a knight of Carim does not forgive betrayal. Not _ever_." He says before taking his foot of the other knight's chest and gripping his hammer with two hands ready to bring it down and end his miserable life.

But the man below surprised him by…laughing.

Eygon stopped and looked down as bloody coughs came out from under the helm stopping the laugh.

"Congratulations, you've accomplished nothing. All you've done is delay the inevitable. Did you think killing me once would be enough to save her? I'll be back though, I always come back. That is my curse and my blessing. But after I finish with her, after I finish with my quest there will be no fire, no dark, no cycle. And most importantly there will be no curse. It will be beautiful. You will not stop me here Eygon, you can run or even chase me down to the ends of the world and I will still win end." He says with a crazed look in his eyes, and a bloody final laugh. Before fading away into dust.

Eygon just looks down at the corpse and places his hammer on his back and returns to Irina and readies for another bout.

"One death isn't enough for you? Very well then, I'll take care of you. As many times as it takes." He says to himself before sitting down and holding his shield above the shivering maiden and allowing the woman to huddle up to his side and almost completely wrap her arms around him to hug his armor for comfort.

He looks down to her and then begins to watch the steps leading to the shrine knowing that the prideful fucker of an Ashen One was going to come running down those steps any time now.

He looks back to the shivering maiden and gently runs his hand across her cheek, like he did so long ago, "As many times as it takes."

He then closes his eyes to blink.

And when he opens them he finds himself in a very different place.

With Irina nowhere in sight, a stark reminder of his failure.

"Why is it always that damn memory?" He says bitterly as he rose to his feet and looked around to find a small horde of monsters surrounded him. Well at least they were a monster at one point in time, but as of now each and every one of them was smashed to bits and pieces.

He reached to his side and pulled what looked like the makeshift crown of the War Chief into view, "A crown huh? Even the peasants in Carim wouldn't be caught dead with this."

He lets a small dry laugh out as he places the crown of sticks twigs and a few bones in his bottomless box.

"Right then." He says before he turned and began to make his way downhill. Not at all caring for the bodies he walked over or on as he made his way down to a nearby town to collect the bounty for this little band of miscreants.

He put in the work might as well get paid for his efforts.

As he made his way through the small patch of country separating the town from the monster massacre he left behind he couldn't help but look up and sigh as he thought about what he's been doing for the longest time.

Nothing.

No purpose. No duty. He'd been wandering for so long now, just putting his hammer to work killing anything that bothered him really and occasionally letting out his anger on groups of monsters for a bit of extra coin.

He was still a Knight of Carim at his heart and core, but even he had come to want a warm bed or a well-cooked meal every now and then.

Better than a rocky mattress and hunger in any case.

Walking through the small and peaceful town Eygon comes up to the building in the dead center of the town and sits down to wait just outside the door.

It was still the crack of dawn after all, only the farmers were up at this hour, not some fat lazy mayor.

And so he sat with his shield on his back and his hammer by his side, waiting for the rest of the town to wake up and get on with their lives so he could get on with his.

He goes to close his eyes and try to sleep a bit more since a nightmare woke him up the first time, but before he could drift off to sleep he feels and hears a light tapping against his shoulder piece. Turning to see who was poking at him he looks to see a small girl staring at him with curiosity plaguing her face as she stared at the Carim knight.

She looked young maybe not even ten years old, fair skinned, long brown hair in a braid, and big warm brown eyes.

"What is it?" He asks the little girl who jumped at the sounds of Eygon's deep and rough voice coming from the almost nightmarish helm.

Acting as most children would she quickly ran to the side of the building and tried to hide. But after only a few minutes the knight saw the girl staring at him from around the corner.

Choosing to ignore the girl Eygon just went back to just waiting for the mayor of the town to just wake up so that he can collect his coin and be on his way.

But when he looks back he saw the little girl had worked up the courage to creep up a bit closer to the titan of a man.

Eygon didn't say a word until she stood right next to him and began to tilt her head in wonder at the knight.

Exhaling slowly the knight shakes his head, "Most children stay away after they run." He says to the girl.

The girl though says nothing to him and just stares.

"If you want something from me, you'll be disappointed. I've nothing to give and I'm not a charity, can barely feed myself at any rate." He says honestly hoping the girl just leaves him alone.

But the more he spoke the closer she came to him until she just sits down beside him.

They stare at one another for a few moments before Eygon shakes his head at her apparent lack of fear for him.

"You're tall." She says finally in that blunt and obvious tone that only young children seem to have.

"I know."

"Your weapon is huge!" She shouts and gestures excitedly.

"I know."

"You must be super strong?!" She shouts even more excited at the thought of their town having a superhuman monster slayer among them.

"I am."

"Do you kill monsters?" She asks seeing the dried blood covering his hammer and shield.

Eygon looks to her now with a puzzled expression underneath his helm, "I do. What of it?"

She then holds out a single solid gold coin to him, with stars seeming to shine in her eyes. "Good! Is this enough for you to kill one?" She asks more excitedly then ever.

This actually took the knight back a bit seeing the young girl just willing to give away a gold coin.

But she's beginning to amuse him slightly so he humors her, "I suppose. What kind of monster will I be killing?"

"I don't know, but my big brother says that there is a monster in my closet that will come out and eat me if I get out of bed after bedtime." She says shivering at the thought of being eaten alive.

Eygon actually laughed at that, seeing the girl's terrified face as she told him of her "monster." He should've known, just siblings being siblings to one another.

"I don't think that will be needed. Just give the coin to your brother, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to have it. Might even kill your monster for you?" Eygon says watching as the girl was now glaring at him slightly for laughing at her.

"This isn't funny, I don't want to get eaten! Who would feed the kittens if I died? Momma, Papa, and big brother are always so busy. Please Sir, kill our monster! I'll tell Momma and she'll cook for you, her rabbit stew is the best in the world Papa told me himself. Does that sound good Sir, world's best rabbit stew?" She asks hoping to sweeten her deal with a bit of home cooking.

The knight shook his head, "Look girl…"

"My name is Cynthia. But my brother calls me Thia." She says interrupting him.

"Right, look girl your monster doesn't exist. Your brother made it up to scare you. Now take your coin and find someone else to bother." He says making her eyes go wide as he gave her a revelation of sorts.

"He lied to me?"

"Yes."

She then shakes with anger and her little face begins to go completely red. And without saying another word she just sat next to the knight with sour look on her face now and crossed her arms.

"What a jerk! Lying to his sister, just wait till I tell Papa!" She shouts in anger next to Eygon, who at this point was just confused by the girl.

"The night after he first told me, a branch broke against my window and I nearly peed my pants I was so scared! Oh now he's gonna get it, I'll put a mouse in his shoe! No I'll put a pepper in his stew, he always eats so fast just like Papa. I can see it now." She says planning her sinister revenge against her older brother.

Meanwhile Eygon just sat there, not even caring that she was there. He'd just block her out.

Or try at least.

"Hey, how old are you?" She says leaning around to look him in the helm.

"Don't know, I stopped counting after some time." He answers honestly.

"Whoa! So does that mean you're a hundred!?" She shouts as her mind tried to wrap around the possibility.

"I'm older than that." He says again completely honest making the girl drop her jaw in awe.

"Wow, you're like the second coolest person I've ever met. My Papa is still cooler though, I saw him chop down a tree in three swings." She says bragging about her father's strength.

Not that Eygon cared.

"Riveting." He responds with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"What's that mean?"

' _Sweet gods above I'm going to go mad.'_ He says in his mind knowing that it would be sometime until that lazy slab of man he knew as the mayor dragged his fat ass into his office.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" He asks trying to get the girl to go away so he could just sit in peace.

She puts her hand on her chin to think for a bit before shaking her head, "Nope. Momma is shopping right now. She likes to argue to some of the shopkeepers and says things that she tells me I won't be able to say until I'm older. But she just got there, so she told me to go play with my friends, but they weren't there so I got bored. And then I heard a man talking about a giant and I thought that I could meet the giant, but I only found you. But it's ok you're much cooler than a stupid giant." She says before going on and on about giant vs. knights.

Eygon just tried to suffer through it all but he was really just wanting to get up and go off to do his business, get his coin, and leave.

"Hey. Hey. Hey! HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!?" She shouts in his ear making the knight hold the side of his head in pain at her volume.

"You're rude…." She says before going quite.

"And you're pretty damn annoying." He says without thinking.

"Hey that's a word that Momma said I can't use until I'm older. Does that mean you know what it means?" She asks as Eygon puts his head in his hands.

All he could do now is pray someone would come soon.

' _Could always be worse I suppose?'_ He says in his mind as he eventually began to block out the girl's nonstop questioning.

So of course that's when he heard the crack of thunder in the distance, before feeling a cold drop of rain landing onto his gauntlet and seeping into the crack.

Just perfect.

 **Outside of Town**

A few miles outside of town a group of warriors could be seen riding across the dirt road that connected most of the towns in this part of the mountains together.

The group consisted only of about seven people, but all of them seemed to be armed to the teeth as they rode with great haste to the nearest town to avoid the worst of the coming storm.

The riders formed ranks with the leader in the front and her subordinates following closely behind in pairs.

Though it was difficult to get a good look at the riders as they had put their rain cloaks on when water began to fall much more frequently. However that still didn't completely hide the fact that each and every one of them held a much more feminine figure when compared to others they rode past. But figures aside they were all servants of Celestine and thus on official business for the queen.

Only real problem with this group was the fact that most of the woman who made up it were rookies when it came to true experience on the battlefield. But their leader more than made up for some of the lacking qualities.

Leading this small group of warrior women was none other than a member of the Seven Shield Alliance, and unofficial Queen of the Mercenaries, Maia.

The woman was a bit of a legend in Eostia, being the only woman to really earn a place in the Black Dogs mercenary group and even work her way up in the ranks to the point where she was basically an officer in their forces. A rank she used well and more than proved to the others that she deserved the responsibilities that came with it. In fact it was her skills with both swordsmanship and leadership that earned her the attention of the goddess herself, who appointed her as a member of the Alliance almost on the spot.

A title that she quickly grew into, training and arming a good portion of Ken's forces. But she wasn't above taking up arms and joining her soldiers, so she formed her own mercenary group to fill the void in her heart that been made when she left the Dogs.

A group she was currently traveling with to investigate disturbing rumors of betrayal at the hands of the Blacks Dogs.

She didn't want to believe them though. She was proud to have live, fight, and kill with them for years before she became a Alliance member. But a part of her mind told her that the rumors might hold weight, and it was the part of her that knew how Vault thought and acted.

Vault always was a proud man, it was what drew her to the group in the first place, and so if he had done the impossible and actually conquered the Black Keep then he would've sent a messenger to the capital as soon as the banner of the Dark Queen fell. He would've been calling for a feast, for women, and for his payment to be ready when they returned. He would've paraded Olga through the streets with all of his men cheering behind him and would be more than ready to celebrate for a few days.

But as of now they hadn't heard a damn thing from the man.

What they have heard were tales of refugees coming from the North, tales of monsters and Dogs looting, raping, and killing almost hand in hand.

And if those tales are in fact true then the whole of Eostia was in for another brutal war, one with an even bleaker outcome on its horizon. One with even slimmer odds of victory.

All the more reason to quickly prove them either true of false.

Prepare for the worst and pray for the best. Claudia had told her that, and as of right now, all of Eostia was doing just that.

They see lights of the town just now waking up just in time for the morning storm and quickly find the inn and bar of the town before heading inside to warm up and rest from the near constant riding.

They walk through the single door to the bar and immediately have every waking eye on them as six of them make their way over to an empty table big enough for all of them with the last one handing the barkeep a few coins.

"Anything hot will do." She says to him.

The man nods and goes back to tell the cook, allowing her to join her company.

Lowering their hoods it allowed all those in the bar to see the faces of the newcomers.

Every single one of them turned out to be a beautiful young woman.

The first two appeared to be twins each with fair skin, neck length blonde hair, and dark brown eyes. Both them were also scanning the crowd with small mischievous grins on their faces as they looked for their next "victim."

These were Ann and Pan the twin troublemakers of the group.

After them was a girl who had dark chocolate colored skin, short and curly black hair, and blank crimson colored eyes. She also carried a bow and quiver full of arrows that could be seen sticking out from her back and a bored expression on her face as she played with her hunting knife.

This was Rami, the long-range support and scout of the group.

Next after her was the girl who just sat down. Like the twins had fair colored skin and blonde hair, but unlike them her hair had the length to disappear into her rain cloak. As for her eyes they were a dark shake of purple and held a calm yet tense disposition.

This was Helga, the interrogation specialist.

The fifth girl had pale skin almost like that of ivory, but that was all most could see as she seemed to be shivering in her seat from either the cold of the nerves of this journey getting to her. But once she slowed her shivering down it was easy to see nervous boarding frightful blue colored eyes covered by ink black hair.

This was Mia, the newest addition to the group.

The sixth subordinate was a girl who held her wits about her, in fact she was the type of woman to grow excited at the thought of danger. Something that showed in her forest green eyes. Her skin was a warm brown that seemed to have a small scar or two across her neck, but those were mostly unseen as her shoulder length hair covered them with thick locks of green the same shade as her eyes.

This was Calypso the second in command for the group.

Finally there was the leader of the expedition Maia. The woman had short bright red almost pinkish colored hair that didn't even reach down to her neck stopping at her jaw line with the front being held in place by a brown cloth headband that wrapped around her head. She had pale skin for reason that just seemed to radiate with a certain glow that was only enhanced by her curious and ever observant dark pink colored eyes.

Once everything had settled in the bar from their arrival the women seemed to relax a bit more as the people of the town were content to leave them be.

Calypso then reaches over and slaps the twins over the head earning a yelp from both of them, "Leave your disgusting habits in your bedroom, where they belong. We are here to serve the queen and assist Maia not patrol for men for the two of you to fuck." The dark skinned woman says to the twins making them roll their eyes at her.

"Oh please don't be such a prude, you don't know what you're missing." Ann says before her sister giggles into her hand.

"Besides we're not the only ones who enjoy the finer things a man can offer." She turns to look at Maia, "When's the last time you took a man into your bed Maia?" She asks shamelessly.

The redhead just sighs at the twins and their insatiable lust, "I swear you two are hornier than a horde of orcs."

This makes the two laugh before Pan nudges her sister and points to a young looking man with a light beard arguing with the barkeep. "What about him, he looks like he could be some fun? We're here until the storm blows over I say we warm ourselves up right."

Ann shakes her head, "He looks like he could barely handle one of us, let alone two. Find us someone with a bit more experience." The other twin says waving him off.

"Is this really all they can think about?" Rami says still casually playing with her knife.

Helga just nods with a grimace, "As much as I want to say no, I can't. Those two are already infamous around Ken for their libido, and they've made it a goal to fuck any and all men that meet their standards. However low they may be." She says before a returning a glare at the two who had heard that shot against their standards.

Mai for the most part just kept to herself as she nervously looked around and saw the glances that the town's people would send their ways, and while some were just purely curious in nature others sent a cold shiver down her spine.

She looked to the two calmest members of the group being Rami and Maia. Rami always was the coldest of the group but it was also what kept her head cool when they were training and when they got into a skirmish or two.

And as for Maia the shy girl couldn't help but feel a bit jealous at the group leader with her charming personality, unwavering confidence, and more than enough skills to back up every boast she could throw out.

Really made the young girl doubt herself at times. Especially when she remembered the reason they were even out here.

Suddenly all of them went quiet as Calypso, Maia, and the twins were all looking towards the door with widened eyes.

Those not already looking moved their gazes to the entrance and felt their jaws drop.

Standing there, soaked from the storm, stood the largest and most intimidating knight that any of them had ever seen in their lives.

A towering figure in black with a snarling black helm and a set of weapons so large that he had trouble fitting through the door and with every step they thought he would fall through the floor.

But surprisingly following immediately behind him was a happy little girl.

She stands behind him and rocks herself back and fourth as she stares at the knight's back. And while some of them wouldn't admit it, out loud at least, the women in Maia's group would call the little thing adorable as all hell.

The knight then turns and stares at the girl before shaking his head and picking her up by the back of her collar with a single hand before carrying her to the door.

They couldn't hear it but the little girl seemed to be struggling in his grasp for a few moments before she just gave up and began to hang loosely before the knight casually dropped her onto the floor.

He then goes to walk away and head presumably upstairs but stopped in his tracks when the girl ran back up to him and tapped him on the leg.

He turns around and for the first time the group of women were able to hear the voice of the man behind the armor.

"I told you to go back to your mother." A deep, rough, and gravelly voice rang out over the area as now everyone at the table seemed to be interested in what would happen between the giant knight and little girl.

"But I want you to meet her, Mamma and Papa would love to meet a knight. And then we can pick on my big brother, he stills needs to be taught a lesson for lying." She says pointing an accusing finger at the knight

The knight sighs and shakes his head, "Leave me be and run back to your mother girl, a bar is no place for a child. Best you leave this place before someone more sinister than me takes notice of you."

The girl wanted to make another comment but the knight just crossed his arms and looked down at her with a seemingly empty stare. She opened her mouth, but slowly closed it as her mood dropped until she hung her head and began to make her way out the door.

Maia feeling a bit bad for the girl nudges Rami a bit. The dark skinned archer looks to her commander and Maia nudges her head towards the girl. The woman stares at her, then to the storm pouring down outside, and then to some of the shadier looking characters in the bar and on the street. Quickly making up her mind she nods and stands up to follow her make sure nothing happened to her.

Noticing this Calypso looked to the others before landing on Helga, "Just to be sure."

The other woman nods to her and joins Rami as the two warriors follow after the girl.

Maia then looks to the remaining members of her company and then to the stairs that the knight had just walked up.

"Well then who wants to go talk to him?" She asks simply knowing that someone of that stature would be a perfect addition to the forces of Ken, or to be specific their company of mercenaries.

Ann and Pan immediately raise their hands like schoolgirls and both of them had a slightly glazed over look in their eyes. Meaning they still only had one thing on the brain.

Maia just stares at them with a deadpan expression and shakes her head, "Definitely not you two. He'd never join if it was you two."

The twins though never lost their enthusiasm, "Oh he'd join in a heartbeat if it was us!" They answer simultaneously.

Still though Maia shook her head and then looked to Calypso and Mai.

Mai was too damn shy to even properly speak to a man much less one of that size, she'd be a nervous wreck the moment he opened the door to speak to her.

Calypso maybe, she was smart, straight to the point, and confident. All things that have already grown her company. But she could come off as rough at the best of times.

So for someone like this she'd like to give it their A-game.

' _If you want something done right.'_ She thinks to herself before standing up.

"Calypso watch them while I'm gone, this shouldn't take too long." She says confidently as she walks up the stairs to hopefully recruit the hulking man.

 **With Rami Helga and Cynthia**

The two had quickly caught up to the girl after leaving the bar and Helga had even been kind enough to let the girl huddle up in her rain cloak as they made their way to her house.

"You two are so nice!" She says as she tries to put her feet on top of Helga's and walk in sync.

Helga smiles down at the happy little girl, "It was no trouble at all. Wouldn't want a girl like you to be caught out in the rain by herself."

Rami then leans a bit closer to them two of them, "So who was the knight you were arguing with?" She says curious to the identity of the mystery knight that had caught pretty much every eye in the bar.

The girl smiles up at Helga, "That's Eygon, he's super strong. I saw him crush a stone statue when the mayor got angry at him. But the mayor has always been a jerk, he wouldn't even pay Eygon for killing all those monsters."

That little bit of attention get both of their attentions. "This Eygon, he kills monsters? Did he say how many?" The darker skinned warrior asks now very much interested in the knight.

"No not really. He did give a crown to the mayor but I really couldn't hear what they were talking about. But I think that crown meant something really important, the mayor's eyes went really wide and his mouth was open." She says remembering the details of the man's shocked face.

The two look to one another and knew that Maia would definitely need to hear about this. Any monster worth a crown meant that they had were old, tough, and had more than enough subordinates to take a town, maybe even a small city. And if one man killed all of them then he was far more dangerous than at first glance, and considering he was over seven feet tall and a literal mountain of metal and muscle that meant a lot.

They then reach the edge of the town where the girl said she lived and all of their eyes widened at what they saw.

The door of the house was broken down and a woman's scream could be heard from inside.

"Momma!" Cynthia cried from beneath Helga as she took off running towards the house as fast she her little legs took run.

Helga and Rami now scared for the girl and her family ran after her and they were able to grab hold of her just as she reached the door.

"Stay back!" Rami says as her bow had been drawn as they ran up to the entrance and already had an arrow at the ready. With Helga coming quickly behind her with a sword in her right hand and a small metal shield in her left.

They all looked inside and felt both their stomachs drop and their blood boil at the sight.

Before them stood three members of the Black Dogs tearing at the clothes of a woman who they assumed was the Cynthia's mother.

All the while two ogres were holding both her husband and son helplessly on the ground as they could do nothing but watch as the three men began to rape their mother and wife.

At hearing a new voice everyone in the small house turns to see the two warrior women and the little girl that was hiding behind one of them.

"Oh well you look at this? Seems as if the bitch was lying to us, she does have a daughter. And it looks like she brought us a little present as well." The leader of three men says as they all turn to them with disgusting looks on their faces as they eye them up for size.

Rami and Helga just narrow their eyes and try to swallow any fear that may have built up at the sight of the ogres. Fear would only get them killed, or worse

Right now they had a mission, kill some monsters and put down a few dogs.

 **And Done!**

 **Gonna be honest I was writing this and it just kept getting longer and longer until this point where I just have to split it up into two chapters.**

 **So on the plus side I'm already writing part two, downside I'm still writing it.**

 **Oh yeah and to those wanting the Ashen One in this story, sorry but I'm going with the "Asshole Ashen One" in this story. So if he does show up it'd definitely be as a villain if anything.**

 **Oh yeah and don't worry you get to see Eygon cut loose in the next chapter.**

 **But please continue Read and Review it always helps.**

 **Stay Cool**


	5. Ready to Fight

I do not own Dark Souls or Kuroinu: Kedakaki Seijo wa Hakudaku ni Somaru

 **Ok this chapter might have a few more mistakes than usual, sorry for that it was kinda rushed at the end and the site was freaking out every time I hit the damn space bar. So yeah it'll look a bit sloppier than usual, again sorry about that.**

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Dark Character Speech"**

' _ **Dark Character thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 4: Ready to Fight**

The house was quiet for what felt like hours before the two warriors sprung into action while the ogres and mercenaries saw them as small threats.

Rami still having an arrow ready launched it with expert marksmanship into the eye socket of the ogre holding onto the father.

The beast now having a tremendous amount of pain suddenly assaulting every nerve ending it had, dropped the man and began to thrash about in pain and rage. It quickly though began running towards the two girls with hate and lust still prevalent in its remaining eye. Rami and Helga now knowing that the at least one member of the family was safe ran towards the ogre to meet it head on.

The sword wielding Helga went low while Rami notched two arrows into her short bow and let both fly at once nailing the same ogre in the lung and the second one holding the boy in the arm.

Shouting in pain the ogre drops the boy and picks up his war axe and charges into the fray with the three dogs still just watching with the leader still holding the mother down with one hand groping the woman's breast.

"Gets you excited don't it? A good dose of violence and blood always makes the fucking to come so much more memorable." He says before licking the woman's cheek with a sadistic grin.

The two girls met the first charging monster and thanks to the arrows lodged in both its chest and eye it made Helga's job a lot easier.

She went low and with practiced ease slashed at the monster's heel brining it down to its hands and knees giving her the chance to plunge her blade into the monster's throat, before she ripped it out of him and brought his jugular vein with it.

The monster sat there for a moment grasping at its open and bare throat as it desperately clung to whatever blood it could hold as it began to quickly slip into shock and eventually drop close his eye and never move again.

"One down." Rami says as the last monster and two of the three Dogs began to circle them with the woman still being held hostage by the last one and apparent leader of the group.

"How do you want to break them apart my dear little archer?" Helga says looking over the three of them with a small bead of nervous sweat rolling down her neck. They both received the brutal borderline torture that Maia called her training regiment, they'd been drilled to not hesitate in the face of any monster or any danger, and they've already killed one.

But that couldn't hide the fact that they were rookies, highly trained ones but no matter what levels of training one receives there is always that special sense and that determination to win, to kill, to survive that one can only get in real combat. Something they've yet to obtain.

True the first ogre went smoothly and without either of them really breaking a sweat that was a mixture of teamwork and muscle memory kicking into the two of them. Now at this point they've had time to somewhat analyze and think about the situation, and therefore draw doubts and over think the simple things.

So when the other ogre and two Dogs rushed them, they hesitated ever so slightly.

Helga was therefore put quickly on the defensive against the two members of the Dogs group and found herself using her shield far more often than she would've liked.

She found herself being pushed closer to wall and knew that if this kept up she was dangerously close to getting disarmed and thus face defeat.

So after blocking another strike to her torso from one's sword she began to shift her position more lateral and tried to hug the outlines of the fight but the second Dog wasn't going to have it and rushed her side.

With twin daggers he was able to make it past the defense of her shield and with his partner there to back him up he was able to get past the girl's guard and land a hard knee to her gut.

But before he could slash at her with his own weapons he was forced to dodge an arrow that would've lodged into his lungs and turned to the still furious and ready archer of the group.

He motions his head and one of the Dogs breaks away to rush her with the sole remaining ogre right behind him with an axe poised to strike.

Rami seeing them charge makes a decision to get into a much wider area and leaps out the window behind her and lands with a roll in the soaking wet and cold mud that had been produced by the thunderstorm that had been raging on.

Getting up and wiping the mud from her eyes she sees the Dog had jumped out the window to follow her and the ogre had went around through the door and was now on her flank.

She reaches for her quiver and grabs hold of two arrows before notching both into her bow and holding it sideways. She watched as the Dog came running after her directly from the front, an easy maneuver.

She runs to meet him and drops to the ground at the last moment and slides next to his left side as the man was holding his weapon in his right hand and lets both arrows fly into his sides, slicing through tissue, veins, organs, and thus he began to drown in his own blood as every breath began to feel heavier and more difficult to bring into his body.

She stands up to finish him off but has to dodge the lumbering swing of the ogre who had caught up to them and was only now joining the fight.

She tries to dodge but the dark-skinned archer was a tad too slow and the monster was able to catch hold of her bow and rip it from her hands.

Landing in the mud and water Rami looks up from her dirty grim cover locks with red eyes full of hate. She then reaches to her hips and pulls out a single edged hunting knife with a small hook towards the tip of the blade.

A sadistic smile comes onto her face as she rises to meet the gaze of the monster and she twirls the knife into a reverse grip, "I usually am able to keep my composure in these kinds of situations, but I tend to make an exception when the other girls aren't here. Wouldn't want Maia to know just how much I enjoy carving out pieces of you inhumane bastards."

She then circles the ogre like a cat looking at a rat. And when she reaches a point where the ogre was using his bad arm from the arrow wound she left in it she charged.

The ogre not ready was slow to get his working arm up with his axe, but by then the woman had already entered his guard and had stuck him twice in the side, but she was much shorter than the ogre so all of his most vital organs were still intact. The same couldn't be said about his intestines though.

Rami thought she might just leave him to die with his own blood and shit inside him. But that would take too long.

So she came in again, but this time the ogre was ready and almost caught her with a huge backhand from his good hand. And though the woman was able to dodge, she was forced to abandon her attack and try for his back.

And for her efforts she was rewarded with one huge laceration along the left side of his back. She smiles as the monster howls in pain, but that small moment of enjoyment left her open for a kick from the enraged ogre.

She felt the wind leave her as she was thrown into the side of the house her knife landing close to her side.

She looks up to see the still bleeding ogre towering over her, a demented look in its eyes. The ogre put down its axe and grabbed her by the throat and raised her from the ground.

" **I can still fuck the corpse, not as fun. But you hurt me bad. So now I get to hurt you back."** It says in a low and gravely voice. Rami then felt her throat begin to close up as the monster began to squeeze and she felt as if her head was about to pop.

But just when she began to see black the ogre loosened his grip. She then felt her body drop into the mud as the ogre laughed a bit at her almost defenseless form.

" **I changed my mind. I'm just going to fuck you to death instead."** He says leaning down to the point of hovering over her form.

Rami hearing this felt a surge of adrenaline course through her body and before she knew what she was doing she had found the fallen knife and had buried it into the monster's groin and pulled upwards, using the small hook to tear the whole thing open.

And despite the disgusting fact that she was now covered in blood from that place, she knew she was in a good position to end this and get back to Helga.

The monster dropped to his knees screaming in pain and holding the place where his favorite organ used to be as Rami scrambled to her feet and looked the ogre in the eyes. He goes to open his mouth but the rage and adrenaline still flowing through her didn't give the monster enough to even open his mouth as she buried the blade into his temple.

She ripped it out and smiled as small pieces of pink were caught on the hook, before she tackled him and stabbed again, and again, and again.

She lost count but after she was done the monster looked like a piece of hammered clay, just with blood and spinal fluid leaking from every wound and orifice.

Finally standing up she quickly goes over to discarded bow and reaches for her arrows only to find that there were barely any left in her quiver, most of them had fallen out during her fight with the ogre.

She runs around the entrance of the house and finds Helga with one Dog dead at her feet, and virtually no damage on her person.

"Seems as if your fight went a lot smoother." Rami says in a small joking manner to her friend who just smiles at her.

"Much smoother than yours by the looks of it. What would Maia say?" She says before they turned to the last remaining opponent in the home.

Their eyes were trying to burn holes in his head as he smirked at them. When he was finished staring at them and eyeing them up and down, he finally decided to let the mother of the house go and stand up to face them.

He had this cocky look in his eyes as he looked them up and down and then slowly began to draw his sword.

"You should be honored, to either die to this blade or to be blessed with my children, after this whole debacle is over." He says with an expression of pure confidence.

The two warriors narrow their eyes at the craftsmanship on the sword, it looked as if either this guy had killed a noble or was one himself, and if they had to take a guess it was probably the second option.

"So what's a noble doing with the likes of the monsters and Black Dogs?" Helga asks the former Lord.

"Oh you know simply looking for the pleasures of life that simple coin and a birthright can't offer. It's so much more enjoyable to take what you want. I see a man with a beautiful woman; I kill him and take her. It's as simple as that; they all learn eventually that I'm better than their husbands or lovers ever were."

Both women feel their blood boil at the words coming out of his mouth and Helga feels her hands shake in rage.

"You are a despicable excuse for a noble, you are no batter than a common orc!" She shouts in rage as the man shrugs his shoulders.

"I find myself thinking more like them anyway, so I'll take that as a compliment." He says before twirling his sword around and points it at them.

"So who's first?" He asks the two in front of him.

"Me."

He looks confused as a third much deeper voice answered his question and before he can express his surprise an ax came falling from a dark corner to his side and removed his outstretched sword man from the middle of the forearm.

The former noble falls to the ground and screams as he looks up to his assailant, and feels his blood run cold.

It was the father of the family home they were in. And he was reminded as to why he had an ogre hold the man down.

The man was big, full of burly working type muscles, with a full beard, and look of pure hate in his eyes.

"You come into my house! Attack my family! And touch my wife! You die here tonight scum!" He says calmly as he raises his ax and prepares to swing.

"Wait!" The noble shouts in fear only for the father to ignore him as he swings downward and shatters the man's ribs and gets straight into his torso with a mighty swing. He then rips it out of the man's chest and goes to swing again this time landing on the man's neck crushing bone and tearing into the muscle and veins. He then rips it out for one final swing again into the man's chest right where the heart was, and on the third swing he simply leaves his weapon in place and goes to hold his wife and children who were all still crying after going through the most terrifying night of their lives.

The two warriors of Maia's company looked for with sorrow expressions as the family cried and once again holding each other, and they felt terrible for ruining the moment.

"I'm sorry but it's not safe here anymore. We have to get you to a safer place." Helga says politely to the to the father of the group.

He stands and looks to them and nods, "We know, but if monsters and Dogs were here then that means the town is also in danger, and who knows how many there are?" He says in a grave tone still holding onto his family.

It was then that the daughter Cynthia spoke up, "What about Eygon? He's strong, he kills monsters, and maybe he could help the town?"

The father looks down at her, "Who?"

The daughter looks to the two woman warriors in the house, "You two saw him, really big knight with a hammer the size of a cow and that scary looking head. He killed the tribe of orcs in the mountains this morning."

This made the father and mother widen their eyes at the news, "Are you sure about that?" The father asks seriously.

She nods back to him.

"Just how many monsters were hiding in the mountains?" Rami ask the obvious question that's been on her mind since Cynthia was talking to them on the way here.

The father looks to them and smiles a bit, "No one knows for sure but somewhere around thirty to forty of the bastards were scattered around the mountains.

"And that means…."

"Yeah whoever this Eygon is, is a killing machine. And our best bet at making it thought the night." He says with a deadly serious expression.

 **Earlier in the Town**

Maia made her way up the stairs of the inn with a confidence in her steps and a seductive natural sway in her hips. As she made her way to the room she knew belonged to that massive hulk of a knight. She's asked the front desk first what room he'd bought for the night just to be sure.

' _All right Maia this is it the chance to get a new ally in the area and maybe some information on the Dogs. And all I have to do is not freeze and just win them over with a little bit of charm. Shouldn't be too hard.'_ She thought to herself confidently as she finally found the room and knocked a few times.

She then stood back and waited for the man to come out and smiled as she waited for him to be stunned by her beauty. She knew she looked good and was not above using it for her advantage.

So when the door opened she smiled expecting a stunned man on the other side, but that smile quickly became replaced with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

The man standing before her towered over any other she'd ever seen in her life, even Vault and most orcs were not as tall or as muscular as the man before her.

His hair was a beautiful ocean blue color that even though it was short and somewhat wild seemed to just flow in a special way atop his head. His eyes were like dark glowing pools of gold shining in the dimly lit hallway staring into her very soul and sending a shiver down her spine. His jaw was strong with signs of stubble and faint traces of scars around his cheeks His skin looked smooth despite the small amount of scars that could be seen around his head and the rough appearance he seemed to be giving off.

Couple that with the fact that even inside his armor Maia had a hard time telling who had the bigger chest between the two of them and that his arms looked more like iron bars inside that armor of his and Maia found herself completely and totally head over heels for a man she'd never even said a word to.

"Well? What do you want woman?" He says somewhat annoyed that the woman had just been staring at him gawking for almost three solid minutes. He knew that he was intimidating, but if the woman took this long to recover than she was probably more hopeless than the child he'd had bothering him all day earlier.

The sound of his rough and deep voice seemed to knock Maia out of her trance and she had to physically shake her head to compose herself in front of the knight.

"S-Sorry about that sir." She said with a stutter she hadn't heard since she first met Vault.

' _You're blowing it!'_ The little voice inside her head screamed at her.

"Well I'm waiting. You'd better tell me why you're bothering me or you'd best just walk away and leave me be." He says crossing his arms and now looking all the more impatient.

"Oh alright then, straight to business. My name is Maia, I'm sure you've heard of me…." She goes to continue but Eygon shook his head.

"Never heard of you before." He says bluntly making the woman cringe on the inside at the news.

' _IDIOT!'_ Her inner voice screams.

"Oh well then I suppose introductions are in order, I am Maia Queen of the Mercenaries and one of the Seven Shield Princess to the goddess reborn herself." She says with a smile on her face waiting for the reaction he was sure to have.

However all he did and raise a brow at the news of who she was, "One of the Seven huh, haven't run into one of you in some time. Is that Halfling still as annoying as ever? Last I saw her was when the wench tried to test my hammer against her own. Left that place in pieces after we were done."

He finishes with a dry laugh at the memory.

Maia though just recomposes herself not really used to being brushed off like this before "Well it seems as if you're acquainted with Luu-Luu then you know how the Alliance operates?" She says hopeful that she can recover from her first impression.

He nods, "Yeah she tried to get me to help and her people, I simply gave them something I no longer had any use for. She seemed happy enough and left me in peace." He then leans in closer making the woman blush a bit more at the fact that she could smell the traces of some kind of herb on him.

"So that leaves me wondering why another member of the Alliance is so eager to seek me out?" He asks with a slightly more hostile tone to the woman.

She shakes her head; "Well things have changed, very recently in fact and the Alliance is looking into people that can handle themselves in battle. Truthfully I didn't know someone of your…. stature existed until I saw you earlier tonight down at the bar with that little girl."

He leans back and sighs, "So the war's changed, figures. Damn monsters always making my life all the more difficult. Very well then, suppose I should introduce myself then. I am Eygon, last knight of Carim and Paladin of the Way of White." He says with small nod of the head.

"Well then Sir Eygon may I come in? It's a bit weird to keep a lady outside like this. Especially when we've such important things to discuss." She says with her mischievous side coming out, as she grew more comfortable around him.

The knight grumbles something before moving out of the way allowing the woman into the room. When she walked past she was quickly able to spot his weapon, shield, and helm all laying next to the bed or in the helm's case sitting on the table beside it.

"So then, you're here to convince me to help the Alliance in the war? Tell me why I should care; you have the Dogs to do most of the fighting for you. I'd imagine you're wining at this point, what with that victory at the boarder and all." He says trying to remember the last major news about the war with the Dark Queen.

Maia sighs and looks away for a moment, "Yeah…about that. Well good news is the Alliance was victorious against the Dark Queen, as the Black Dogs lead an attack on her fortress. Bad news maybe that the Dogs have betrayed the Alliance, but we don't know for certain." She says dreading the reaction she'll see when he realizes the amount of shit the Alliance military would have to be dealing with now.

Eygon shakes his head, "So the Dogs weren't happy with the bones they were given? Figures, that Vault was always too greedy for his own good. Anyone could tell that just by hearing of him, always wanting the spotlight, always wanting more blood, gold, or fame. Only a matter of time if you ask me."

Maia raises a brow at the tone Eygon was talking in when he mentioned Vault, "You talk as if you know him?"

He shakes his head, "Never met him myself, but I know people who have, and I've been through parts where he's been. Not a tavern untouched, not a coin left to be spent, and no whore left standing. Him and his whole band, they're more like a swam of locusts rather than men. It's no surprise to me that someone like him wouldn't be comfortable with what's been given. His type are always the ones to want more."

Maia goes to open her mouth but in the matter of just a few sentences Eygon had broken down Vault's character flaws, flaws that she looked past out of admiration or maybe blind love.

"Well then, what would you do if you had the chance to fight men like him, and of course plenty of monsters along the way?" She says with a small fire in her eyes at the thought of battle.

The much larger warrior looks to the woman in front of him and thinks for only a moment.

"I'd crush the life out of him, and anyone who got in my way." He says without flinching.

Maia grins, "Well then let me be the first to welcome you to…"

"For a price." He says cutting her off.

She stops in his tracks and stares at the knight, "What?"

He nods, "I may be a knight but even I grow tired and hungry. Besides with the Dogs gone your queen can afford to pay me easily."

Maia though still just stares at him weirdly, "Of course, it's just I don't recall knights demanding payments up front so abruptly."

"I'm a knight yes, but I'm the last knight of my home for a reason. A reason I don't plan to fall victim to. So do we have a deal?" He says going over to his equipment.

The redhead nods, "I suppose we can work out the details when we get back to Ken. But I must say that may not be for sometime. The Dogs are rumored to have betrayed, and the goddess does not want to go to war over rumors, no matter how likely they are." She says wanting focus on why she was here in the first place.

Eygon shakes his head, "You're a stubborn one, here I'm telling you it's already happened and you still don't see it. Very well then, guess you're the type that still wants to believe in heroes."

She recoils at that, "What do you mean?"

He looks her dead in the eyes, "I can see in your face, every time I insulted Vault or his merry band of degenerates you flinched or had a sour little frown. You don't want to believe it because you're too damned foolish to see that the man is more of a monster than you know. I've seen his type before, masquerading as the noble hero; those are the types that leave a knife in your back, and they leave it where it hurts the most."

Maia looked to the towering knight as he seemed to get more and more angry as he spoke, maybe this was something he'd dealt with before, maybe that's he was the last one? She didn't know but as much as she wanted to believe him and her gut, her heart still wanted to find some doubt, that Vault hadn't done anything.

She goes to retort but a sound interrupts her.

It started small, but then it began to grow louder the longer the two listened. A roar could be heard off in the dark, and it sounded like it belonged to rather large monster. Looks like this wasn't going to be an easy or peaceful night.

"Seems as if you're going to get your answer." Eygon says putting on his helm and hold of his hammer and shield.

Maia rolls her eyes and follows him out the door as they make their way into the tavern section of a bar.

Eygon didn't so much as stop and just walked out the door. While Maia had to gather her group, "Calypso, Ann, Pan, Mai we've got work to do!"

Immediately the four stopped what they were doing and got up to follow their leader out the door.

Ann and Pan were right beside her each with a dagger and sword in separate hands. Calypso held a beautifully crafted curved sword in her right hand with a shield in her off hand. And while Mai held no weapons in her hands, small amounts of blue glow could be seen occasionally glowing on her hands.

They all nodded and shed their thick raincoats despite the still constant downpour of water, revealing the clothes they wore underneath.

The twins wore matching black and skintight leather combat suits with small patches of leather armor over their thighs and torso, leaving most of their body exposed, but maintain a high level of flexibility and speed. They also wore leather fingerless gloves and shin high black-heeled boots giving them a few extra inches in height.

Calypso wore a form-fitting suit of bronze armor from her home tribe with engravings of the sea, snakes, and the winds adorning the breastplate and back. Her leggings and gauntlets were both solid in color with simple contours running along the sides of the them and small snake heads forming just before the knuckles on her hands.

And Mai wore what would be common of a priestess in the Eastern regions of Eostia with long pristine robes, now slightly ruined from the mud, all in a royal purple color with white sashes and touches of gold around the wrists and feet. She unlike the others wore tradition sandals rather than boots or armor.

Finally Maia wore her traditional combat attire of a skintight orange leotard that was split partly down the middle allowing her more than generous chest room to breath. Her neck and wrists along the edges of the leotard had fur lining them to protect her from the rain and cold to a certain degree. Below that she wore leather trousers with a brown leather belt over her waist as a kind of division between them and the leotard with a second belt going somewhat slanted along her stomach that held her two swords. Finally she had on almost knee length brown leather boots.

They all walked towards the town center just as the alarm bells started to go off. And in no time at the entire whole town began to move.

People came running out of their homes and closed shops to the center of town where they assumed the town's militia was waiting and people were already either getting ready to completely leave or bunker down.

"What about Rami and Helga?" Calypso asks concerned about the missing two from their group.

Maia shook her head, "They know what to do, and they can handle themselves. We need to help these people for now. Mai think you can communicate with anyone nearby for help? Also see what we're up against."

The mage of the group looked a bit nervous on the spot but nodded, "I will try."

She closes her eyes and raises her left, which had begun to glow an ethereal blue. She began to concentrate for a moment and then snapped her eyes open.

"There is a small traveling garrison to the north, I sent word to their mage that we need help. And I couldn't sense the full extent of the monsters, but there is something incredibly powerful in the town with us." She sounded quite scared when she mentioned that part to the group making them raise a brow as to why this thing hadn't attacked yet.

They made it to the center of town and found a small group of men and some women all armed with crude tools and some weapons.

So the militia wasn't going to be much help, they didn't know how many monsters they were going up against, and there was something in the town with them already.

The town's people that were willing to fight saw the small group of fighters that had approached and some of them visibly relaxed at the thought of the Alliance sending people to help them.

"So who's in charge of this place?" Maia says casually resting her hands on her swords as she scanned the crowd.

"The mayor usually runs things, but we've never had to call the militia into action like this. Do you know how many monsters are out there?" A man from the crowd asks with concern.

"Well I can say this, we're facing an uphill battle in terms of numbers. Not trying to scare you, just letting you all know what you're in for. On the more positive side, we sent word to a garrison to the north and they've agreed to come help us. But until then we're on our own so until then we need to…"

What ever she was going to say was silenced by a thunderous boom that had gone off towards the edge of town. Everyone quickly turns and waits for something else to happen, but all they got was another resounding boom from the same area.

All was quite for sometime before the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard even over the rain as a figure began to make its way out of the dark.

Everyone held their breath, the small number of archers ready with arrows in that direction.

Then they finally saw it, a tall, imposing, and blood soaked figure walking towards them with his hammer and shield still clenched in his hands.

Everyone there stood in awe as Eygon slowly walked into the mayors office completely oblivious to the scared and stunned looked the people were giving him, especially as he casually kicked the doors off their hinges.

"Where are you hiding you bastard?" He asks a seemingly empty room.

Maia and the other members of her group quickly rushed into the building after him with Calypso ready and willing to put him down with her curved blade if need be.

They walk up to see the man casually kick a table and imbed it into the wall, "I know you're in here. Just come out already, save us both the trouble. Or else I'm going to start getting angry." He says once again before placing his shield on his back.

"Enough of this!" Calypso shouts at him as goes to throw another piece of furniture.

The towering knight looks to the dark skinned warrior before him with Maia standing beside her, but quickly turns back and ignores them.

"Shouldn't you out there, trying to save these poor folks? At least act like a hero when you're doing your job." He says with a snarky tone to her as he begins to knock on some of the wall panels with his unused hand.

"You will give Lady Maia the respect she is deserved cur!" Calypso shouts back at the knight before a sideways glance from Maia tells her to drop it for now.

Eygon still knocking stops when he hears what sounds like hollow space. Smiling beneath his helm the man pulls back his fist and brings it crashing down onto the wall destroying the entire section from the strength behind the blow.

"Found you." He says to himself before walking through the new hole he had just made.

The two behind him just balked a bit from the impressive feat they had just witnessed, but Maia now very interested as to why Eygon had been so adamant about the mayor followed behind him.

"Calypso go back to the others, have them and the militia fortify as best you can. Who knows what those bastards are going to throw at us?" She tells her second in command.

But rather than doing as she was told Calypso held her ground, "I have to say this is a stupid idea Maia. We don't know him, and I won't allow you to walk into danger by yourself. We need you here."

Maia knew she was right that this was in fact a huge risk following Eygon, especially with an attack so close. But his being here raised a few questions to her, and she wanted them answered.

"Eygon!" She calls out to him just as form began to fade into the dark.

"What?" He calls back.

"Why did you come here? Why is the mayor so important to you?" She asks.

"You want to find out for yourself follow me. Just be sure to keep up, I'm not waiting for you." He said before they heard his heavy footsteps once again.

"Well that answered nothing…" Maia says deadpan to her right hand as they looked from the hole to the crowd outside with the other members of their group.

"I still do not want you going in after him. You are the best strategist out of all of us, if you go we will be weakened. And who knows when those monsters will attack. These people need us more than he does. Besides we're still missing Rami and Helga, so we're not even at full strength." Calypso says to her leader, who simply sighs, as she knew that she was right.

Calypso then looks to her leader, "If you want someone to go after him, then I will take your place. I can protect myself, and you will be much more needed here."

She then charges into the hole after Eygon, not even giving Maia time to respond as she just stood there trying to piece together what was going through her second in command head sometimes.

"For someone who kept complaining about getting these people ready she was eager to take my place going down there. I swear when they get back…" She trails off as she begins to mutter cruses to herself as she walks back out to get the town ready.

 **With Eygon and Calypso**

For someone of Eygon's size the man could move surprisingly fast, something Calypso was learning the hard way as she trekked through the mayor's secret tunnel. The tunnel itself was much longer than she had thought, and by now she thought they should already be outside the town. So when she began to see what she thought was an end to tunnel she knew she was about to catch that metal-coated bastard.

Then she saw him, that tall, imposing, and mysterious figure that she had been chasing.

She goes closer to him with her sword and shield already drawn just in case he proved to be hostile to her. But before she could get too close he simply raised his hand, motioning her to stop. Not that she was going to yield to him, so she ran towards him trying to see what was so important.

However before she could bring herself to move past him he turns around with alarming speed and grabs her by the wrist and the mouth.

Now immobilized by a steel-like grip the woman feels her body lock up as he stares into the empty eye sockets of the helm and for the fist time since she became a warrior she had no clue what to do.

She could feel him bring her close, she almost hears his deep and slow breathing underneath his helm, and she could feel the strength in his body. And she could feel her own cheeks heating up.

He then leans down and much too close to her as she tries to ready herself for either death or worse whatever kind of humiliating things he may do to her.

"Be quiet." He says in her ear making the woman lock up and shiver from the hoarseness in his voice and warmth that she felt against her skin from the closeness.

But when he pulls away and points to the small dimly lit end of the tunnel, then back to her she understood what it was that he wanted.

She slowly got to the end and found a small peek hole that let her look outside the tunnel, and to say she was surprised to see what she saw was an understatement.

Groups of orcs were standing guard just outside the door. Even more surprising was that it sounded like someone was shouting commands at them and others behind them.

She got up a bit closer to peek and when she got a clearer look her blood ran cold.

A Black Dog captain could be seen being escorted by a platoon of Dogs and small hordes of orcs, imps, ogres, and even a troll surrounded them, all armed and they looked to be readying themselves for something.

"This had better good! My men are ready and you're stopping them from having the time of their lives! So you'd better start talking!" The Captain says to no one. But the two secret watchers then saw a fat little man also known as the town had as a mayor walk out from the crowd of monsters.

"Apologies, but there seems to be some complications to the plan." He says with that greasy, annoying, and rat like voice of his.

The Captain leans in, "And just what is this problem that's so fucking important?"

The mayor wipes a bit of spit that had come off on his face, "In the past few days a few notable characters have come through the town. Some of which I think you and your superiors should know of." The Captain and the other Dogs lean in a bit closer.

"Go on then."

The mayor smiles, "Seems as if rumors of your group's betrayal have reached Ken, seeing as they've sent a seven person party with none other than the Queen of the Mercenaries herself as the leader."

This sent a few of the men recoiling, knowing just how strong the woman was and that anyone trained to selected by here might be more than a handful if they were to fight them.

The Captain nods and smiles, "Looks like we're about to rich then. Vault put a bounty on all the Princess Knights and the Dark Queen and her Knight. Tell the men and monsters to keep any decent looking woman alive. We'll sort them out and anyone not Maia, then they're free game. Just don't forget to share boys." He says to a resounding praise from the orcs and men surrounding him.

"There's one more you should know about." The mayor says to the Captain who waves his hand to silence the cheering hordes.

"And just who else is in this little town of yours?" He says smiling at the shorter man.

"The Knight that Vault put a bounty on."

This made everyone there dead silent.

The thought alone of fighting that black demon of a knight that they'd all heard about sent shivers running through all of their spines.

Calypso could then hear the men whispering to themselves. All of the things they were saying sent images in her head of a true and terrifying monster.

"I heard he ripped men in half just for the hell of it."

"I heard he turned an entire horde of ogres into bloody stains on the ground and laughed the whole time he did it."

"Vault said he'll give the man who kills him a night with both the Dark Queen and her little elf pet."

"Yeah but is that worth getting split from your balls to your brain. I think the fuck not."

The Captain again quiets them with a wave, "How do you know it's him? How can we be certain of him being there?" He says not wanting his men to know how scared he was of fighting the thing they said was an unstoppable force. Or as they nicknamed him 'The King under the Keep' since they found him chained under the Dark Keep.

"He came in not too long ago with the crown of the orc tribe that lived in the mountains. Claims he did it all in a day, and he carries around a hammer that looks more like he ripped a stone column from a cathedral. Impossible to miss, the bastard's taller than some of the orcs here."

The Captain looked at him strangely, "That's not him, the knight Vault put a bounty on used a giant iron and jagged sword, not a hammer. And here I thought we were going to be Kings for killing him. Still I'm sure these orcs want the chance to avenge their brothers."

Hearing this the green skins roar with agreement.

"So then we have a deal? You get still be mayor of your town, when we're done with it of course. And if we find that pretty little thing redhead we all know and want we get to live like kings." Another uproar of praise sounded off with the mayor smiling a sleazy little smile the whole time.

Meanwhile Calypso could barley hold in her rage as she heard more and more of the group. It got to the point where she was gripping her sword hard enough to draw a small amount of blood.

All the while Eygon just stood there like an unmoving and unfeeling sentinel.

"I'm going to skin them alive." Calypso says to herself glaring at all the traitors and their new monster allies.

Eygon though just stood and waited, he knew something she didn't. Something that should've been very obvious from the very beginning, the tunnel they were standing in was very, very tall. Tall enough for even a troll.

He knew where they were going to attack from and he knew how they were casually going to slip by the towns and now Maia's defenses.

He reached to grab Calypso so they could make their way back and wait for a good number of them to enter the tunnels, and then crush them under it. But the green haired beauty jerked away from him in her anger towards the monsters outside and her suspicions of him.

And in doing so tapped her sword against the wall.

It was dead silent for a moment before Calypso and Eygon looked towards the door that they had been listening to for sometime. They heard shuffling and then the question that made a cold sweat run down the woman's back.

"I thought you said no one would find the tunnel? Looks like you're not as smart as you like to think. Kill them." The Captain orders the orcs closest to the door.

The first green skin opens the door with a toothy grin, only to get a razor sharp edge right between his eyes.

A roar was heard from the other side as orcs began to run towards the tunnel now that one of their brothers had been killed.

Calypso though showed no fear as she cleanly sliced through another one's throat and parried another club before slashing him across the gut, spilling him onto the floor.

She backed up to take a stance, but Eygon suddenly grabbed her by the waist and threw her on top of his shoulder and began to take off down the tunnel.

"Let go of me you coward! I will face my enemies with pride and dignity! So I demand you let me down so that I may fight and make my ancestors proud!" She shouts at him while kicking in frustration.

"Or you can be quiet let them file in so that I can deal with them." He says back before throwing her forward in the tunnel and letting her land in the dirt.

"Ass." She says brushing the dirt from her armor and picking up her sword and shield.

She turns to face the monster and the Dogs that had began to chase them down the tunnel and to her surprise she found Eygon just standing there with his shield on his back, and holding his hammer in front of him with two hands slightly placing it on the ground.

"You might want to keep running. If you plan to survive at any rate." He says with a small dark chuckle making the woman glare before she decided to just take his advice remembering what his plan was.

Eygon said nothing as the woman run and simply stood there unmoving as the horde kept coming closer and closer to him.

He then raised his hammer and smiled under his helm, "And so it begins."

 **With Calypso**

The dark skinned beauty was just making her way back to the mayor's secret entrance when she heard what could only be described as thunder coming from deep beneath the tunnel entrance.

From there a huge wave of wind and dust came racing out of the entrance causing her to close her eyes and look away.

She then heard the sound of crashing rubble and saw that the walls of the tunnel were shaking to their very core, before the entire thing came crashing down in a resounding boom.

Calypso then saw the very building she was in begin to shake and quickly sprinted out of the structure and watch as it to began to crash to the ground.

She looked around to see the town's people in shock as Maia and surprisingly Rami came running up to her.

"Calypso what the hell just happened?" Maia asks the green haired warrior who shakes her head.

"Sir Eygon stayed behind to close the tunnel onto the monsters and the…Black Dogs that were with them." She says sadly. Though she didn't really like him in the very short time that she had known him, for Eygon to sacrifice himself like that he truly was a knight of virtue.

Maia nodded to her, "I know about the Dogs, Helga and Rami came back with a family that had been attacked not too long ago. Looks like those rumors weren't just rumors after all and now we have much bigger problems on our hands. What was that bit about Eygon though, he closed the tunnel on them?"

The other woman nods.

"I see, damn that's one more set of hands we could've used. Well Mai has been monitoring the position of the reinforcements that we called, they're on the way but it will take time. But at least with that tunnel closed then we won't have to worry about them hitting us from the center of town." Maia says running a hand through her hair. If Eygon really brought a whole tunnel down on top of them, then that had to seriously hurt their numbers.

They then saw Mai running up to the small group with a look of concern on her face, "Maia that power I sensed earlier it's getting closer fast!"

This got everyone on guard immediately. "Alright then, Rami get up on the rooftops lead the archers. Calypso regroup with Helga, Ann, and Pan fortify the forward barriers and make sure everyone is where they need to be. I'll take Mai and head towards the east to check those barricades as well. Get ready because I think whatever they're throwing at us is going to be the toughest thing they've got."

Everyone nods to Maia as they prepare to leave, but a rumbling from the mayor's office makes them all turn to look. The ruins began to shake slightly before a small amount of light could be seen shining through the rubble.

Then the office exploded in a shining light and massive force.

The warriors of Maia's party then turn to see what caused the explosion, and there standing tall and proud was Eygon in all of his black armored glory holding his hammer on his shoulder and his shield still on his back.

Calypso looked borderline star struck as Eygon began to walk towards the group with Mai, Rami, and Maia not holding up any better as they all looked at the juggernaut before them. Capable of surviving a cave in from that massive tunnel, and then casually smashing his way out, oh he apparently can use magic.

Everything he did just raised more questions as to who or what Eygon even was.

"Hope you're all ready to fight. Because those vermin are still coming." He says before walking past them and removing his shield.

"And it would best if you got this circus of a town ready. Lest they all die tonight." He said looking around at all the people with melee weapons or bows and arrows on the rooftops.

Mai then holds up a very shaky finger towards the knight and tries to stutter out a sentence, "I-It's you! Y-Y-You're the power I've b-been sensing! W-W-What are you!?" She shouts in a mixture of fear and amazement.

The knight turns to look at her and scuffs at the shaking mage of the group, "I already told your leader, but I guess I need to say it again. My name is Eygon, the last knight of Carim."

And with that simple introduction he walked off ready to fight, ready to kill.

Gods know he'll be doing a lot of that tonight.

 **And Done!**

 **It has been awhile since I've been able to upload. I apologize, but it's going to be another long break coming up, till March 10th at least.**

 **Reason for such long breaks from writing, and why this one also ends with another cliffhanger is because since August I've been a soldier in the US Army.**

 **I left in August finished BCT in October and now I'm in AIT, only reason I was able to even get this out is because I'm on Holiday Block Leave. So I've got to go back and finish AIT, which I graduate in March.**

 **So I just wanted to put this at the end as both an explanation as to why it's been so long, and an apology since it's going to be while again.**

 **But after AIT I've got a long period of leave before I go to Airborne school so at least there's that and I'll probably be able to put out about two or three chapters in that time since it'll be a little over a month.**

 **Yeah didn't have that much to do this one since it's been Christmas and New Years.**

 **But if y'all could please Read and Review it always helps in the long run.**

 **Stay Cool**


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